Monorail Gets Nod To Link Las Vegas Strip, Airport

The privately owned Las Vegas Monorail Co. in December received governmental approval to extend the monorail to McCarran International Airport from its current ending point at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. However, the firm must raise private funding to finance the extension, as no public money will be used.

The company expects to begin extending the driverless monorail system, which charges $5 for a single fare for points between the MGM Grand and the Sahara Hotel and Casino, by 2011, contingent on funding.

The Clark County, Nev., Commission on Dec. 6, 2006, permitted the Las Vegas Monorail Co. to proceed with extension plans.

According to the company, the monorail extension would include five new stations, two of which would be at McCarran Airport—one at Terminal 1, the existing main terminal, and a second at the planned Terminal 3, which McCarran officials expect to open in 2011.

The airport extension would be 4.2 miles long, nearly doubling the monorail's existing length, and would run on concrete guideways up to 100 feet above street level, monorail officials said.

"With plans for more than 40,000 new hotel rooms in the next few years and an expected increase in visitor volume, we must continue to give our visitors what they can't experience anywhere else," said Las Vegas Monorail Co. president and CEO Curtis Myles. "Extending the Monorail to the airport as a direct connection to the Las Vegas Strip will provide a fast, convenient and reliable transportation option for visitors from the time they arrive in Las Vegas to the time they leave."