Some visitors who drive to Las Vegas, park their car at the hotel in which they stay and use other means of transportation to get to the shows or other events because they are intimidated by Las Vegas traffic.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Las Vegas is a town that is relatively easy to get around in if you follow a few suggestions.
For drivers, heavy cab traffic plus other drivers from all over the world, can seem like too much to handle.
The trick is to stay off the busy streets. Know where you are going and take the road less traveled. Think like a local.
The best advice you can receive is stay off Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip) and I-15 once you get in to town. Using either of them to get from your hotel to another destination is a exercise in futility. Especially during rush hour(s).
In Las Vegas rush hour is not just commuters going to work or going home, its early evening when everyone is trying to get to a specific place to see a show or event. That means the rush hour runs from 3 to 9 p.m. (or longer, depending on the day and what events are transpiring).
With all the improvements that have been made on I-15 in the Las Vegas area, there is one which I need to caution you about. There is an Express Lane going into town from California. There is another southbound. They are not like our Diamond lanes. There is no minimum amount of riders required.
The Express lane is the closest to the median. It is a high speed lane. If you get on it as you enter town, you can't exit it until Sahara Avenue. If you are staying at a resort on The Strip, you will have passed all of them up.
On the southbound, once you get on it, you have to stay on it to Tropicana Avenue.
There are two streets that parallel the I-15, one on the east side and one on the west side. The one on the west side used to be Industry Way mainly because it was along the back side of the resorts on The Strip. It has been renamed Dean Martin Drive. On the east side the street is Frank Sinatra Drive. They merge just north of Caesars Palace and have few direct connections to the main east-west streets.
They are the easiest way to get from a Strip resort to downtown. Or, for that matter, the fastest, easiest way to access the Rio without having to drive on Flamingo Road. Neither street has access to the I-15.
Main streets on the west side of the I-15 are, from the closest to I-15, Valley View Boulevard, Decatur Boulevard, Jones Boulevard, Rainbow Boulevard, and Buffalo Drive.
Main streets on the east side of I-15 are, from the closest to I-15, Paradise Road, Maryland Parkway, Pecos Road, Lamb Boulevard, and Nellis Boulevard.
Heading north as you enter the Las Vegas Valley, the main streets are: Warm Springs Road, Sunset Road, Russell Road, Tropicana Avenue, Harmon Avenue, Flamingo Road, Sands Avenue (which becomes Spring Mountain Road on the west side of I-15), Desert Inn Road, Sahara Avenue, and Charleston Avenue.
A couple of interesting facts are that Harmon Avenue and Desert Inn Road have no direct connection to I-15. That was done on purpose so Las Vegas commuters didn't have to deal with I-15 traffic. Desert Inn Road also does not directly connect to Las Vegas Boulevard for the same reason.
Koval Lane is a locals secret. It takes you from Tropicana Avenue, just behind MGM Grand, to Sands Avenue on which you can go east to Paradise Road or west to Las Vegas Boulevard.
Knowing where some of the neighborhoods are could be of value to drivers.
North Las Vegas is, naturally, north of downtown Las Vegas. To the northwest lie Summerlin and Lone Mountain.
Directly to the west is The Lakes. To the southeast is Winchester, Paradise, and Henderson. To the southwest is Spring Valley. And directly south is Enterprise and Green Valley.
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