Brace for Electric Daisy Carnival traffic this weekend
Extra Nevada Highway Patrol troopers will be on duty over the weekend to manage traffic for this weekend’s three-night Electric Daisy Carnival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The event begins at sunset Friday, and 135,000 people are expected to attend each night of the world’s largest electronic music festival. Entertainment begins nightly at 7 and ends at 5 a.m.
Trooper Loy Hixon said there will be no easy way to avoid traffic on Interstate 15, the primary route to the speedway. He recommended against using Las Vegas Boulevard North.
“Probably the best thing you can do is arrange your trip to avoid being on I-15 in the late afternoon and early evening those three days,” Hixon said. “If you’re heading for Utah or to take U.S. Highway 93 to Lincoln County, there’s really no other route. Just be patient and watch the signs. If you’re heading north, get in the left lane because most of the festival traffic will be exiting at Speedway Boulevard.”
Similar crowded conditions are expected on southbound I-15 at sunrise Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The worst of the congestion is expected Monday morning, when carnival traffic is exiting as the Monday-morning commute is getting started.
“The organizers actually have done a pretty good job planning for this,” Hixon said. “Limousines and buses have been chartered and the organizers (Insomniac Events) say about one-third of the crowd has purchased those tickets.”
Hixon said the Electric Daisy Carnival crowd also is inclined to car-pool. In addition, taxi regulators have arranged for cabs making runs to the festival to cut through Nellis Air Force Base to avoid congestion.
Still, Hixon said between festival traffic and other motorists there likely would be 100,000 vehicles on the roads in the late afternoon and early evening hours.
Hixon said 46 troopers have been assigned to patrol around the speedway and an additional 20 units would be on I-15 south of the speedway. In addition, four to eight units assigned to Moapa and Glendale will be asked to patrol the southern portion of their beats during carnival opening and exiting hours.
Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.
