Las Vegas Monorail To McCarran

In Las Vegas, there is the Las Vegas Monorail that runs at least 19 hours every day on a 3.9 mile track with stops at several major hotels/casinos and with reasonable proximity to most of the other top Neon Kingdoms in the core area of world-famous Las Vegas Boulevard.

Opened in 2004, gliding parallel along the east side of the Strip, it was never built to connect to Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport which is fairly close to MGM Grand, the final stop at the monorail's south end.

McCarran International handles more than 35 million air travelers each year. And the majority of these are heading to, or returning from, hotels on the Strip, as well as having business at the often swarming Las Vegas Convention Center, also one of the major stops of the Las Vegas Monorail.

Yet, on Las Vegas Monorail's opening day of July 15, 2004, no leg was included to the nearby airport. And it has been this way ever since. The southbound monorail terminates at MGM, with the airport being not much more than a muscular dice throw away.

To this writer, the fact that there is no Las Vegas Monorail track from MGM onward just a little further to McCarran Airport seems odd.

By Robert L. Candiotti, August 2, 2009

"Why doesn't this monorail go all the way to McCarran?" Assuredly, this question has crossed the minds of thousands, or perhaps even millions (according to the Las Vegas Monorail website, 36 million people have been on the monorail since its opening in 2004), of riders who have taken the monorail adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip. It is easy for monorail customers to see how the trains get close to McCarran at the MGM Grand passenger stop, but then they reverse direction without proceeding to the airport.

This question certainly has come to the mind of this writer - many times. He has looked for an answer.

Scouring information about the history of the Las Vegas Monorail that is available on the Internet, it is seemingly impossible to determine exactly why the routing of the train was designed without the track going all the way to the city's airport (which, incidentally, is the 7th busiest airport in the U.S.) with its constant abundance of airplane travelers.

Photo by Tiffany Brown of Las Vegas Sun

The Las Vegas Monorail has not yet reached its logical McCarran International Airport conclusion.

Trying to understand the designing of the monorail, it is rather unnerving to read that the most important individual behind the creation of the Las Vegas Monorail - Robert N. Broadbent - was the director of aviation for Clark County, Nevada, contributing much to the growth of McCarran International Airport, before he got involved with the development of the monorail.

Broadbent had a background in aviation. He knew the importance and potential of McCarran International Airport. Did he not see a natural relationship between the Las Vegas Monorail and McCarran?

According to an article about the history of the Las Vegas Monorail that was written by Steve Sebelius and George Knapp in the September 15, 2005, Las Vegas CityLife, Broadbent was described by Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury as someone "who always saw farther into the future than any of us."

And yet, with Broadbent's background and apparent penetrating insight, there was no monorail leg between MGM and McCarran.

It can be baffling.

Photo of Las Vegas Monorail car by Rich Brome

Las Vegas Monorail has many things going for it except for a stop at McCarran International Airport.

Why has a monorail extension to McCarran never happened? Some may know, and won't talk. Others may talk, but don't know.

Was it the Neon City's taxi cab clique that quashed the inclusion of a MGM to McCarran monorail extension?

This writer has seen no evidence of this, but he has ruminated over it many times. And he always concludes that if this was an issue, the taxi people need not be worried about, or intimidated by, a potential loss of big percentages of taxi customers because of the Las Vegas Monorail.

Because the monorail track runs behind the casinos on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip, quite a bit of walking is required to get to the monorail. Some people like to walk. Others do not. And a big number almost refuse to walk.

Some people would decide to ride the monorail to McCarran because they do not mind, and often even crave, walking. There is no way around it. Getting to the Las Vegas Monorail stops does require moderate use of one's legs.

Vast numbers would opt to catch a taxi just outside their hotel/casino lobby that will deliver them right to the departure terminal. Even with a Las Vegas Monorail to McCarran Airport train option, many people would still choose the convenience, comfort, and confidence in a local driver, provided by taxis.

Naturally, for throngs going from McCarran into town, the same would also be the case.

The physical exertion and mental independence - neither reaching a taxing degree, actually - required of monorail riders is attractive to some, and is never the choice of countless others.

Also, if people were late heading off to the airport, as is often the case, they frequently would want to hop into the waiting taxi just outside the glass doors to be whisked off to the airport curb right in front of their check-in area.

The point is, a Las Vegas Monorail-McCarran leg would not have a devastating influence on the city's taxi enterprises.

The monorail to McCarran would be beneficial for street traffic. Local residents, once they learn how quick and easy it is to take a city bus to the monorail and then on to the airport, would leave their personal autos at home. This would help free up airport parking. Plus, it would help further reduce vehicle emissions as a result of more Las Vegas people riding the monorail. And locals' usage of the monorail to McCarran would have minimal impact on the taxi business.

Additionally, the monorail itself seems to be good for the environment. The Las Vegas Monorail is advertised as being totally electric, creating no emissions at all. According to the company's website, the monorail "aided in the annual removal of an estimated 3.4 million vehicular miles from Southern Nevada's major roadways in 2008, reducing emissions by more than 61 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) over the course of the year."

It can be added that the writer, who rides the monorail frequently, finds it to be very clean and observed by decent security. It is also fun, and its elevation of 30 to 60 feet allows the riders interesting views of the ground below. Plus, the trains come by every five to nine minutes.

Photo by Jay Tilston

Because Las Vegas Monorail runs behind Strip casinos, walking to catch trains is often required.

There is the interesting fact - revealed by studying information on the Internet - that the Las Vegas Monorail also did not, after controversy, end up going north to Las Vegas' historic and pulsating Downtown. The 2005 CityLife article by Sebelius and Knapp talks about early discussions to extend the monorail track to Downtown. Like a line in southward continuation to McCarran, this also still has never happened.

At its north end, the Las Vegas Monorail reverses direction at Sahara Hotel and Casino on Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. Extension to Downtown was an idea that fizzled. Things apparently got complicated. Politics were involved. There is no question about it.

To this writer, though lack of a leg to Downtown is regrettable, it is not nearly as important as the absence of a leg to McCarran International Airport.

It seems obvious the lack of a McCarran stop has kept the monorail in a weakened position right from its opening day in 2004.

Still, looking through the Internet, there is information that a Las Vegas Monorail leg to McCarran International Airport is still remotely possible.

The Las Vegas Monorail website - lvmonorail.com - has a page titled "AIRPORT EXPANSION." The page states, "The Las Vegas Monorail Company is currently in the planning stages of a proposed expansion to McCarran International Airport, which would help deliver Las Vegas visitors to their business and vacation destinations along the Strip."

Because this page remains on the company's website to this day, one could believe Las Vegas Monorail Company is still hoping to tie together its system with a stop at McCarran.

With the eventual possibility of approval of Southern Nevada's expansive Ivanpah Valley Airport, an added Las Vegas Monorail stop at McCarran is most definitely retaining its significance. With the addition of a new Southern Nevada international airport 30 or so miles south of Las Vegas, a markedly enhanced ground transportation system in the area will be required.

Ivanpah will almost certainly have some type of train running from the new Ivanpah Airport to McCarran. A connecting train directly from McCarran into the city would make lots of sense.

Curtis L. Myles III, the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Monorail Company, has a background in commercial aviation in Nevada. Information available indicates he still is endeavoring to find a way to build the monorail track all the way to McCarran. It will be expensive, he admits, but it will create many additional monorail passengers that can bring revenue to the extension costs.

The CityLife piece says Myles thinks often about a monorail line all the way to McCarran. Sebelius and Knapp state "he can draw potential routes from memory."

Las Vegas Monorail extension to McCarran. It makes sense to this writer. Yet, the writer repeatedly wonders, where is the train realistically heading?