Since 2013, ECONorthwest has been involved in long-range land use and transportation planning for the Las Vegas Valley. ECONorthwest was prime consultant for Southern Nevada Strong, the Las Vegas region’s first regional plan to focus on how planning for future land use and transportation could support economic resiliency. The plan included the creation of realistic, implementable transit-oriented development strategies for four areas that represented the range of development types in the Valley. These strategies identified opportunities for development; potential changes in land use, access, circulation, and transportation choices for each area; and coordination of public and private resources for implementation.
One of those strategies focused on the Maryland Parkway Corridor—the site of the first proposed light rail line in the Valley. The Corridor has long been a target for high-capacity transit because it connects the airport, key employment centers, and downtown Las Vegas. As part of Southern Nevada Strong, ECONorthwest led a multidisciplinary team to evaluate opportunities for redevelopment along the Corridor. During subsequent Environmental Impact work, ECONorthwest assessed potential future revenues, additional public service costs, and capital improvement costs from potential additional development along the Corridor.
Alongside the corridor-level analysis on Maryland Parkway, ECONorthwest is conducting land use modeling to inform a high-capacity transit plan for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. Our work centers on evaluating land use scenarios and the market for development. ECONorthwest is working with MapCraft to configure a custom configuration of TOD Lab. This tool applies industry-leading real estate financial modeling techniques to assess development feasibility at a parcel scale under varied policy options, future regional growth scenarios, and market environments. These model outputs will inform RTC’s decision-making about the type and location of future transit investments that can best serve Las Vegas residents.
