July 15 is the target opening date for the long-delayed Las Vegas Monorail.
At 8 a.m. that Thursday, the $654 million rapid transit system is scheduled to begin hauling paying passengers behind the Strip. Monorail officials vow the date will be the last of a string of on-again, off-again target openings.“We’re very pleased and looking forward to opening. We’re excited,” Cam Walker, president of the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail Co., said Tuesday. “We have successfully completed those things necessary to allow us the confidence to open the system.”
Originally, it was thought the system could open as early as late January. March 1 eventually was set as a target launch date before slipping to later in March, then sometime this summer as testing progressed slowly.
However, the monorail won’t be the first mass-transit system for the valley. That honor goes to MAX, a new hybrid bus system launched today in North Las Vegas.
Related: Stefan Sharkansky comments.
I saw a news report on the MAX last night. Looks like they want to expand it citywide and add a rail system to it. Both are expected to run smoothly. They didn’t give a year in the report for when all this anticipated to be complete. Still exiting, though. I just hope I’m still living here when they finish it.