F1 Walls Off Pedestrian Bridges Over Las Vegas Strip

F1 really doesn’t want you peeking this year. By Thursday, the UK-based racing organization will have enclosed all seven pedestrian bridges over the Las Vegas Strip inside thick aluminum walls.

Last year, F1 tried employing adhesive privacy screens to block views, but frustrated tourists easily tore those off.

Each of the temporary aluminum walls is supported by scaffolding and accompanied by overhead walkway lighting.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix, taking place from November 21-23, transforms the busiest stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard and several surrounding streets into a 3.8-mile track on which F1 drivers will reach speeds of up to 215 mph.

Bridges Too Far?

“We can‘t allow for people to stop the flow of pedestrian traffic during this event and clog up the pedestrian traffic on the bridge,” a Las Vegas police officer explained why views of the race from pedestrian bridges must be blocked during a safety briefing last year.

As for how this makes the race safer for drivers, the officer said: “We can’t allow people to be on the bridges and throw things down onto the track below the bridges.”

Of course, race fans — we assume those who didn’t have $600 to pay for the cheapest ticket this year – have a different take.

“How is this legal?” commented X/Twitter user @csim1977 beneath @seventensuited’s post about the aluminum walls.

“Bruh, WALLS is TREACHEROUS,” added @FibbyGibby.

“Coming soon, armed special ops dudes packing like it’s the apocalypse to make sure you don’t stop moving across from one side to the other,” @AdvantagePlays chimed in.

Other Changes

Setup time and traffic impairment have been greatly reduced from last year’s learning experience/debacle. While an average of an hour is still added to the daily commute of most Strip casino workers, race prep was accomplished in three months instead of the insufferable nine it took last year.

Some of this was in part due to there being no need to repave the Strip, since that was accomplished last year.

In other changes to this year’s circuit, the bridge lifting Flamingo Road traffic over the track and Koval Lane has been reduced from four lanes to two. However, it is the same length, meaning that it still diverts vehicles from the same street-level businesses it did last year.

In addition, the Venetian Pavilion’s grandstand has been built twice as high as last year’s model. And, the famous trees lining the Bellagio’s sidewalk no longer had to be chopped down to install the resort’s grandstand since new trees were installed in planters that were easily removed.

The specific daily street closures leading up to this year’s race can be found here.