Looking for fun in Las Vegas at New Year’s? Follow these transportation tips

In my more than 20 years as a denizen of Southern Nevada, I’ve spent just two New Year’s Eves among the revelers, estimated this year to be around 332,000 strong.

Once was with Barbra Streisand at her Millennium Concert at the MGM Grand Garden and the other downtown before the Fremont Street Experience existed.

But I suspect that’s two times more than most Las Vegans have done it.

To be sure, New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas is a bucket-list experience, although it isn’t for those who can’t stand crowds or traffic.

TRANSPORTATION STRATEGIES

But if you’re up for the challenge, here are some transportation strategies to make the night bearable — and maybe even fun.

First, remember that the Metropolitan Police Department is going to close several streets when it gets close to party time.

— Major streets that won’t be closed are your friends: Sahara Avenue, Mandalay Bay Road, Desert Inn Road, Frank Sinatra Drive, Koval Lane, Russell Road, U.S. Highway 95 and the 215 Beltway. The Beltway will stay open, but some of the ramps leading to the Strip will close.

Harmon Avenue and the bridge leading into CityCenter from the west and Harmon east of Las Vegas Boulevard will be open only to hotel guests of the properties in the area.

— The closure of Las Vegas Boulevard is an inexact exercise, but Metro has a timeline of approximately timed steps toward turning the Strip into a pedestrian mall. Weather and other factors could play a role, so don’t view these times as exact.

Around 5 p.m., I-15 ramps to eastbound Tropicana Avenue, Flamingo Road and Spring Mountain Road will start closing.

Around 5:45, closures of other streets, roads and alleys leading west toward the Strip between Sahara and Mandalay Bay Road from Koval Lane will start.

At 6, the barricades blocking vehicular traffic off Las Vegas Boulevard will close, and around 6:15, Metro will start shooing vehicles off the street. That should be wrapped up around 6:30, and that’s when Las Vegas Boulevard opens fully to pedestrian traffic. That’s also the time when moving walkways, elevators and escalators leading to and crossing Las Vegas Boulevard will be shut off.

From there, it’s party time. But remember, hundreds of Metro officers and cameras will be watching your every move.

— At midnight, it’s eyes to the sky for the America’s Party fireworks show scheduled to run about 15 minutes. About 12:15 a.m., the moving walkways, elevators and escalators will be turned back on.

Most of the celebrations end around 1:30 a.m., and the street sweepers move in from south to north about 2.

By 3:30 a.m., ramps will start reopening, and things will start to return to normal — or at least as normal as one could expect on the Strip.

This is all good information for those who look to drive to the Strip, and it’s obvious that if you’re planning to be there, you should get near your destination before 4:30 p.m. and plan on being stuck until at least 12:30 a.m.

BUS, LIMO, MONORAIL OPTIONS

If you want to avoid some of the traffic but still get to the Strip as a pedestrian, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada bus system will be operating free from 6 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday. That means you can park at the free park-and-ride sites and take a bus to the action. They leave every 20 minutes from the South Strip Transfer Terminal at 6675 S. Gilespie St. at Sunset Road, the Centennial Hills Transit Center at 7313 Grand Montecito Parkway in northwest Las Vegas, and the Westcliff Transit Center at 25 S. Durango Drive near Summerlin Parkway.

If you want to get up and down the Strip during the run-up to the fireworks, the Las Vegas Monorail is pulling an all-nighter, running continuously from 7 a.m. Thursday through 3 a.m. Saturday. Standard rates apply.

A Los Angeles-based company, BeMyDD — for Be My Designated Driver — has about 25 professional Las Vegas limousine drivers on call to shuttle people who have had too much to drink and their cars to their homes. Rides can be requested through the BeMyDD personal driver app available free through the Apple and Google Play. The service costs up to $19.50 an hour.

The special attraction of the service this year is that $1 from every ride sold Thursday will go to moving a dog to a no-kill animal shelter in the company’s first-ever Puppy Lovin’ New Year’s Eve campaign.

UBER, LYFT OPTIONS

One other New Year’s Eve transportation twist is the first availability of ride-hailing companies in Southern Nevada. Rides can be hailed on apps offered by Uber and Lyft in Las Vegas

Both companies have reduced their rates to $1.10 a mile and 20 cents a minute after an initial charge of $2, with $5 being the minimum cost for a ride.

But beware. New Year’s Eve will be busy, and for ride-hailing companies, that often means dynamic pricing — critics call it “surge pricing” — when rates can double, triple or quadruple.

Surge pricing occurs based on geographical supply and demand, so it could happen anytime, anywhere.

Lyft promised ahead of New Year’s Eve that its dynamic pricing would be capped at twice the normal rate. Uber tap-danced around the question and said that New Year’s Eve is likely to be busy and customers should be prepared for the potential of higher prices, but they wouldn’t predict how high prices could go.

Uber is partnering with the PT’s Entertainment Group, operators of PT’s, Sierra Gold and Sean Patrick’s locations, to donate a dollar from every pickup from one of those taverns to the Friends of the Metropolitan Police Department to fight drunken driving.

— Questions and comments should be sent to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number. Follow the Road Warrior on Twitter @RJroadwarrior.

ROAD WORK AHEAD

— Lanes of Clark Avenue will be disrupted for the placement of a crane at Sixth Street through Thursday.

— California Avenue will be closed for a water and sewer line project between Casino Center Boulevard and Main Street through Friday.

— Lane shifts have occurred along the northern 215 Beltway between North Fifth Street and Aliante Parkway for the construction of permanent roadway, a concrete barrier and street lights. Speed limits have been reduced to 45 mph and the shift will be in effect through Thursday.

— Work on the Regional Transportation Commission’s Flamingo Road Corridor Improvement Project will move to between Eastern Avenue and Jimmy Durante Boulevard through Thursday. Daytime and overnight construction is scheduled. Construction will continue on the west side of Flamingo from Rainbow Boulevard to Hotel Rio Drive through fall 2016. Work will not take place on New Year’s Day.

— Interstate 15 traffic has been shifted to southbound lanes at Milepost 16 in the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona for the demolition of a bridge that is being replaced. There will be a single lane of traffic in each direction of I-15, but state officials say motorists should expect traffic delays of up to 15 minutes through Thursday.

— Main Street traffic has been shifted to the west side of the roadway to the new pavement on the east side of the street to allow workers to begin sidewalk removal between Bridger and Bonneville avenues. Work will continue between Bonneville and the U.S. Highway 95 overpass through Thursday.

— Lane restrictions are planned in both directions of West Charleston Boulevard between Montclair Street and Decatur Boulevard Mondays through Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Access to businesses may be temporarily altered and travel lanes reduced through the construction zone. Left-turn lanes at the intersection of Charleston and Decatur will be reduced to single lanes. Montclair will remain open, but there will be no access to or from westbound Charleston. Montclair will be restricted to right turns only onto Charleston and motorists turning from Montclair onto eastbound Charleston will only be able to turn right at Decatur. The project is scheduled to be completed this week.

— The westbound travel lanes of Patrick Lane will be restricted from Pearl Street to Pecos Road, Mondays through Fridays, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., through Wednesday, for a water reclamation line project. Traffic will be shifted to the right lane during construction.

— A major sewer line project continues at Durango Drive-Rampart Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue. The project will add 1.1 miles of 30- and 36-inch sewer pipe from that intersection to the Durango Hills Water Resource Center and eastward along Cheyenne past Cimarron Road. Tunneling along the route will continue through Thursday. Two travel lanes are expected to be maintained through the duration of the project, but Lake Mead Boulevard is recommended as an east-west alternative route and Buffalo Drive is recommended for north-south traffic.

— Travel lanes will be restricted and a flagger present on a 21-mile upgrade of State Route 160, the highway between Las Vegas and Pahrump, between Mileposts 22 and 43. The project includes the addition of 14 paved median crossovers. Work is scheduled through early January, Mondays through Fridays from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Travel lanes will be open when construction isn’t occurring.

— Lanes along Alta Drive will be blocked for landscaping improvements between Rancho Drive and Martin Luther King Boulevard through Jan. 7.

— Lanes of Clark Avenue will be disrupted for gas line work between Third and Fourth streets through Jan. 7.

— Lanes of Far Hills Avenue will be disrupted for landscaping work between Anasazi Drive and the 215 Beltway through Jan. 8.

— Lanes of Bridger Avenue will be disrupted for utility work between Ninth and 10th streets through Jan. 11.

— Northbound and southbound Decatur Boulevard will be pushed to the east half of the street between Via de Palma Drive and Sahara Avenue, Mondays through Fridays through Jan. 15 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a sewer line project.

— Geotechnical exploratory drilling along the east and west sides of Interstate 15 between Sahara Avenue and U.S. Highway 95 at Martin Luther King Boulevard is scheduled during the daylight hours through Jan. 15 for the Project Neon Spaghetti Bowl project. Moving lane restrictions are planned and there will be some temporary noise and vibration disruptions.

— Lanes of Cheyenne Avenue will be disrupted for sewer line work between Soaring Gulls Drive and Durango Drive through Jan. 15.

— Work will continue through mid-January on soil and groundwater testing along highway and arterial rights-of-way for the Project Neon interchange between Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95 and along Sahara Avenue, Charleston Boulevard, Martin Luther King Boulevard and Desert Lane.The Nevada Transportation Department will bore 120 holes along the Project Neon corridor to ensure the security of the ground for bridge pilings. Lanes will be restricted and work will occur between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

— Traffic will be restricted on Main Street between Bonneville and Hoover avenues through January for a pair of utility projects. NV Energy will relocate conduit through mid-November and Southwest Gas pipeline relocations are planned through January. Traffic will be reduced to single lanes during the work on the Main-Commerce project.

— Garces Avenue will be closed for general street improvements at the Main Street intersection through Jan. 31.

— Fifth Street in North Las Vegas is closed between Cheyenne Avenue and Losee Road through February for the construction of an overpass route that will connect Fifth to East Carey Avenue.

— Craig Road will be restricted to two lanes in each direction at Simmons Street for a water drainage project that will be completed in February.

— Restrictions will be in place through February on Lamb Boulevard between Wyoming Avenue and Vegas Valley Drive on a water pipeline rehabilitation project. Lamb will be reduced to one lane in each direction and left turns will be prohibited. Two lanes will be open in each direction during daylight hours. Work is scheduled Sundays through Thursdays, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Trim below for print.

— Lanes of Elkhorn Road will be disrupted for a storm drain project between Fort Apache Road and Grand Canyon Drive through Feb. 16.

— Lanes of Washington Avenue will be disrupted for a utility pole replacement at Pecos Road through Feb. 16.

— Robindale Road will be closed at Bermuda Road for sewer line construction with incremental road closures west to Gilespie Street throughMarch 4. Construction will occur Mondays through Fridays from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closures will remain in effect while work isn’t being performed. Property access will be maintained throughout the project.

— Lanes of Hualapai Way will be disrupted for landscaping work between Town Center and Alta drives through March 17.

— Transit Route 109, the Maryland Parkway route, will be detoured because of road construction through April. Stops on George Crockett Road will not be served. Alternative stops are available on Routes 117 (Las Vegas Boulevard South and Silverado Ranch Road) and 217 (Warm Springs Road and downtown Henderson).

— The ramp connecting Sunset Road to the southbound Airport Connector is closed through fall 2016. Traffic lanes and shoulders will be restricted on the Airport Connector between Interstate 215 and the airport tunnel through mid-2016 for the construction of a flyover lane from the southbound connector to eastbound I-215.

— Lanes of Main Street will be disrupted for general street improvements between Bonneville Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard through Dec. 1, 2016.

GASOLINE PRICES

The average gasoline price Friday in the Las Vegas Valley was $2.54 per gallon. It was $2.51 in Nevada. The national average of $2 is the same as it was a week ago, down 5 cents from a month ago and down 32 cents from a year ago.