Formula One Race Brings Back Flamingo Road Bridge With Clark County’s Blessing; Bridge Reduced from Four To Two Lanes, But Two Business Owners Claim They Will Continue To Lose Money From Grand Prix Span
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The F1 bridge is coming back on Flamingo Road for the November road race in the Las Vegas Strip corridor.
Formula One’s Las Vegas Grand Prix said Thursday it’s working with Clark County to re-install the temporary bridge spanning Koval Lane from mid-October to mid-December.
A change is that F1 is reducing the bridge from four lanes to two lanes, one lane in each direction.
Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm said the race is “happy to reduce size of the Flamingo bridge.”
Here’s her comment in a press release sent out today: “Consistent with our pledge to cause less disruption in the lead up to our 2024 race, we are happy to reduce the size of the Flamingo bridge thereby significantly mitigating the impact of the bridge on neighboring businesses.
“This new design allows us to continue to construct an incredibly complex circuit in one of the busiest destinations in the world while ensuring adequate access within the track for those who need it, especially for emergency response entities. We thank the County and Metro for their collaboration in developing this solution.”
She didn’t thank local business owners like Wade Bohn, who owns Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
Bohn said the bridge cost his store millions of dollars in revenues last year for the 90-minute road race. Clark County gave F1 public roads to use for their race without asking for compensation. The inaugural race in November disrupted commerce and transportation like no other event in Las Vegas history, Clark County Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom has told LVSportsBiz.com.
Bohn even protested at F1’s headquarters in metro Denver April 30.
Bohn said reducing the bridge from four lanes to two lanes will not help his store’s revenues.
Another business owner, Randy Markin of Battista’s Hole in the Wall Italian restaurant, said F1 Las Vegas traffic man Terry Miller sent an email a few days ago in an effort to meet about F1’s bridge’s plans at a meeting set for Tuesday morning. But Markin said Miller told him it was an “informational only” bridge meeting and businesses would not have input.
Clark County refuses to make public a Las Vegas Grand Prix traffic report for this year’s race.
LVSportsBiz.com appeared before the county commission last month to ask commissioners to release the draft traffic report, but they didn’t do anything.
One business, Ellis Island hotel-casino, has sued F1 and Clark County, arguing that Ellis Island lost millions of dollars because of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
