Wade Bohn, owner of Jays Market on Flamingo, stands under the temporary bridge that was put up in front of his business, at the corner of Koval Lane and Flamingo Road during the F1 event in Las Vegas, says that they will continue to lose millions in revenue as long as this bridge still stands on January 4, 2024.
Published Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024 | 5:16 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024 | 7:05 p.m.
A temporary bridge at the corner of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane that was built for the Formula One Grand Prix in November is finally going to be dismantled, race officials said this evening.
Businesses near the intersection complained the Flamingo Road Bridge was driving customers from their shops — so much that they feared going out of business. Some had threatened legal action if the bridge wasn’t removed.
“I’m overjoyed” said Wade Bohn, owner of Jay’s Market, in a statement. “I really felt like I might lose my business, but removing this bridge will allow us to get back to normal customer flow during big events like the Super Bowl.”
Randy Markin, owner of Stage Door and Battista’s restaurant, added, “This is the positive outcome we hoped for and was our intention from the beginning. I am hopeful our regular Stagedoor customers will come back and celebrate the Super Bowl with us, and we will make sure tourists know Battista’s is now easy to get to.”
Bohn previously had told the Sun the bridge caused his business to drastically decline. In December 2022, Bohn said he made $543,000 in total sales and saw 30,000 people walk through his doors; this December, the store had sales of $380,000 and the number of customers had dropped to 18,000.
“I’m telling ya, if that bridge becomes permanent, I’ll be out of business 100%, no doubt about it,” Bohn said. “We don’t need F1, Vegas is its own animal. We sold our soul to F1 when F1 should’ve sold their soul to us.”
The bridge will start coming down at 9 p.m. Sunday, officials said. Construction will continue nightly through Feb. 1, and the bridge will be completely removed ahead of visitors arriving for the Super Bowl.
Sidewalks will remain open, and access to businesses will be maintained throughout the process, race officials said.
Race and Clark County officials are evaluating infrastructure for the course moving forward, saying they’d analyze some of the hiccups in construction that slowed traffic, angered residents and Strip workers, and frustrated business owners.
“While the press release came from F1, it is my understanding that Clark County still owns and manages the public right-aways in the resort corridor, so I give full credit for this victory for the business owners to the county commissioners that worked with us and listened to the desperate situation of the business owners. I want to thank Commissioners (James) Gibson, (Michael) Naft and (Tick) Segerblom for taking our calls and meeting with us,” stated Lisa Mayo DeRiso, president and CEO of Mayo & Associates, a firm representing the businesses near the bridge.
The 2024 Formula One race is Nov. 21-23.
