Officials project the event will draw more than $1 billion to a local economy that aims to fill 152,000 hotel rooms. “We’re no stranger to handling large-scale events,” Walsh said.Ĭonstruction workers build a grandstand in front of the fountains at Bellagio hotel-casino along the Las Vegas Strip ahead of the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix auto race Tuesday, Sept. Officials say it now draws more than 300,000 people annually. Las Vegas police have exercised Strip closures for New Year’s Eve fireworks every year since the last night of 2000. Police are “planning for this like it’s New Year’s Eve,” Clark County Undersheriff Andrew Walsh said as he listed restrictions on pedestrian access and the size of backpacks and purses. “If guests don’t have a ticket or a designated destination, it might not be the best place to come on the weekend,” Vanessa Anthes, vice president of event operations for the race organization, told reporters.

Officials now also acknowledge that parking spots will be scarce for race fans and hotel workers alike. Everyone who lives here, who works in the resort corridor in particular, has had to sacrifice because of the significant roadwork and construction.” “By any standards, it’s been a very heavy lift for our community to take the steps necessary to have a successful event. “Formula One is in a class all its own” Gibson said. People watch the fountains at the Bellagio hotel-casino behind grandstands installed ahead of the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix auto race Friday, Nov. Jim Gibson, chairman of the elected body with jurisdiction over the Las Vegas Strip, said last week that talks about who pays what will continue after the race. Organizers won a 10-year permit for the race.Īfter road work began in April, race organizers asked Clark County to contribute half of an estimated $80 million in repaving costs. When the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas grand prix was added to a 24-race worldwide F1 schedule a year ago, tickets and hotel packages costing tens of thousands of dollars per person went on sale. “It’s all barricades and things blocking traffic,” said Charles Flexer, a tourist from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who tried to decide how to cross Las Vegas Boulevard with his mother using an electric mobility scooter. (AP Photo/John Locher)įor now, many familiar Strip sights are blocked by track barriers, fencing, pedestrian walkway screens, scaffolding and advertising erected around the nighttime race on streets usually choked with taxis, buses and rental cars and lined by pedestrians posing for selfies. A construction worker helps build a grandstand in front of the fountains at Bellagio hotel-casino along the Las Vegas Strip ahead of the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix auto race Tuesday, Sept.

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