Local officials are looking for ways to improve safety for pedestrians in the aftermath of the December 20th rampage by a Lakeisha Holloway.
Prosecutors say Holloway, 24, was homeless, high on marijuana, and upset about being forced to leave several casino parking lots, where she tried to find a place to sleep for her and her 3-year-old daughter, when she deliberately drove up onto the sidewalk in front of the Planet Hollywood Casino and ran down dozens of pedestrians.
Las Vegas police say she was heading north on Las Vegas Boulevard at about 6:30 p.m., when she repeatedly drove her 1996 Oldsmobile Aurora onto the sidewalk in front of the Planet Hollywood, Paris, and Bally’s casinos, before heading east on Flamingo and stopping at the Tuscany casino, where police arrested her.
Holloway killed one and injured at least 35 others, prosecutors say, and the tragedy has spurred local officials to seek ways to make it safer to walk along the iconic Las Vegas Strip and to make it better for drivers, too.
When the Las Vegas Strip initially was built, traffic was much lighter, and pedestrians were far fewer. As the Strip has grown over the decades, and hotels have grown much larger, so has the number of visitors, and the sidewalks often are packed with pedestrians.
“The boulevard really is not designed for pedestrian movement,” Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Tina Quigley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
That makes it difficult for drivers to make turns and enter properties, and the wide boulevard can be a long walk for pedestrians to cross. That can create conflicts between motorists and pedestrians.
Local officials, though, are looking at ways to remedy the matter, if not outright cure it. Among possible cures are more pedestrian skywalks, and building a light-rail mass-transit system to more quickly and safely convey people from one part of the Strip to another and reduce Strip traffic.
Local officials expect the area’s population and tourism to grow by about 25 percent over the next two decades and want to reduce the likelihood of more car-pedestrian casualties.
