Mandalay Bay Express: In Eight Months from Concept to Revenue Service

During peak hours, over 65,000 pedestrians circulate the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jakes Associates, Inc. devised a solution for capturing a sizeable share of the pedestrian traffic by implementing a sophisticated and attractive elevated guideway transit system between the intersection and selected properties. The fully enclosed transit station is integrated with the existing overhead walkways that link all corners of the intersection at the same pedestrian transfer level. Express trains capable of transporting 3,200 passengers per hour per direction travel from the intersection station to the Mandalay Bay Resort destination. However, only one train shuttles passengers back, making stops at the Luxor and Excalibur Hotels and Casinos. The system opened in April 1999 only eight months from the notice-to-proceed, setting another construction record for transit projects of such magnitude. Over 20 million passengers have rode the system to date without a single incident. The system introduced a prototype steel guideway design. The narrow, light, and transparent nature of the guideway makes it not only very elegant and unobtrusive, but also cost effective.