August 2001

TRAFFIC REPORT

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has had a complete breakdown of their computer system and is giving no estimate as to when July traffic statistics will be available.  The Briefing will report July traffic as soon as these July statistics become available.

The Agricultural Inspection Station on I-15 at Yermo, California reports July traffic up 17%.  Yermo gives a rounded estimate of southbound traffic only and it is not as reliable as the figures from the NDOT, which are taken from magnetic counters at Stateline/Primm. 

The Yermo breakdown for July, by vehicle type, reports auto traffic up 14%, truck traffic up 34%, RV's down 2% and bus traffic equal with last year. Southbound traffic returning from the 4^th of July holiday on the 5^th was up 2%.

Last month the NDOT only had available the total count for the month of June.  The daily totals were not completed.  The June daily report is now in. June weekends stacked up as follows:  Friday/Saturday, June 1^st and 2^nd, off 2%; the 8^th and 9^th, off 10%; the 15^th and 16^th, up 5%; the 22^nd and 23^rd up 10%. 

A comparison of weekend traffic on I-15 for the last weekend of June 2000 versus the last weekend of June 2001 shows the impact of the shift from a Tuesday July 4^th holiday in 2000 to a Wednesday July 4^th in 2001.  On Friday, June 30^th, and Saturday, July 1^st, 2000, the weekend prior to the July 4^th holiday last year, nearly 70,000 vehicles headed northbound into Las Vegas.  This year the count on the comparable weekend (June 29 and 30, 2001) was down to 52,500, a 25% drop.  Last year Southern Californians headed for Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday and then came home on either Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, a four-day holiday for some.

GAMING REVENUE REPORT

Strip casinos showed an 11.5% increase in gaming win in June, leading the State in increases and upping market share (percentage of statewide gaming win) to 50.7%, from 47.2% last year.  Downtown registered its best gain in twelve months, with win up 3% and market share down very slightly to 6.9% from 7.0% last year.  Laughlin win was off 5.5%, with share dropping to 5.3% from 5.9%.  For all of Clark County, share was up to 79.6% from 77.4% last year, with win up 6.7%.  Statewide the win was up 3.8%.

McCARRAN AIRPORT REPORT

The Clark County Department of Aviation reported a major adjustment in the year-to-date (YTD) count of arriving and departing passengers from January to June of 2001. The revision is due to an analysis of reports from America West. The adjusted YTD figure reports an increase of 2.5%, not 7%. America West uses Las Vegas as a major hub and apparently the airline had been counting those passengers arriving and departing at McCarran solely to make a connection to a destination other than Las Vegas, as if Las Vegas was their final destination. Eliminating these travelers not staying in Las Vegas has resulted in the downward YTD adjustment.

In July total passenger counts, including scheduled, non-scheduled, charter, commuter and general aviation, were up 2.7%.  Scheduled carriers were up 4.3%, bringing the total for the scheduled carriers to 4.2% YTD. 

Southwest Airlines led the pack among the top five leading airlines with more than one million arriving and departing passengers in the month, for an 11.9% increase and up 12.8% YTD.  America West was up 6.6% in July and is holding even with Southwest with a 12.7% YTD increase.  The freshman in the top five, National Airlines, broke the 200,000 passenger count for the month, registering a 17% increase over July of last year, up 33.7% YTD.  Both United and Delta continued to show declines in Las Vegas traffic.  United was down 8.8% for the month, Delta down 6.9%, and their YTD declines are 6.7% for United and 12.3% for Delta.

Domestic charters were up 5.2%, International charters up 8.4%, and general aviation up 29.6%.  Total traffic through the airport for July was up 2.7% and, as reported above, the adjusted YTD total is 2.5%.

AMERICANS STICK TO THEIR CARS

Only 5% of Americans use mass transit, about the same as a decade ago. The American Highway Users Alliance reports that while America's population is up 32% since 1970, the number of licensed drivers has increased 63% and the number of vehicles by 90% and vehicle miles traveled 132%.  Over the same time period total road mileage has increased by a scant 6% and the lane mile capacity by 15%.  Wendell Cox, a transport and demographics consultant, says that, "The principle duty of planners should be to provide for commuter needs by adding new capacity, not to try evangelize people from their cars."

ADVERTISING PAYS OFF FOR   RETAILERS

Home improvement retailer, Home Depot, saw their sales soar 16% in the 2^nd quarter.  Rather than cutting advertising during a stubborn economy, CEO Robert Nardelli mounted a heavy product push that led to strong results.  "We were able to drive traffic and expand our average ticket," said Nardelli. 

Out on I-15, Tony Hackbarth, owner of some of the Del Taco restaurants on the highway increased his radio advertising budget and saw a 15% jump in sales in the first six months of the year even though traffic counts on I-15 this year are flat.

Long-time I-15 restaurateur, Champ Gabler, has held steady with his combination of radio and outdoor advertising.  His Peggy Sue's Diner reports healthy increases in customer counts and gross this year.

HIGHWAY STATIONS' LISTENERS CONSUME 7,500 HOTDOGS IN FOUR HOURS

The Highway Stations and Barstow Station Bakery and Deli celebrated National Hot Dog Day on Tuesday, July 31^st, offering the stations' listeners their first hot dog for nine cents and the second one for eight cents between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.  One customer called in an order for 500 hot dogs. The winner of the hot dog eating contest, Mike Cline, put away nine foot-long hot dogs during the ten-minute limit.  This is the third year in a row that the Barstow Station and the Highway Stations have sponsored the contest. The popularity continues to increase.  Last year's total was 4,000 hot dogs.

CALIFORNIA GASOLINE PRICES CONTINUE TO DROP

Some major branded gasoline stations in the Los Angeles area are selling unleaded regular gasoline for as little $1.45 per gallon.  Experts are saying that, with the growing inventory, the price will continue to decline as the summer driving season ends.  This May, Wall Street analyst, Adam Siminski, predicted that the talk of even higher gasoline prices was "a bunch of hype". (See May 2001 Briefing.) It appears that he was right. 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST TO AVOID RECESSION IN 2001           

The Southern California Region will post employment gains of 2% this year, or 180,000 jobs, according to the recently released report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.  That is slightly off from the 2.9% or 190,000 jobs created last year.  The slow down in Hollywood production, international trade, and industrial building, are subduing the local economy. Jack Kaiser, the LAEDC's Chief Economist said that, "The area is holding up far better than much of the technology dependent bay area.  Kaiser predicted that California overall will boost the post job gains of 2.2% this year down from 3.8% last year and he says that the national economy will keep growing in 2001 at a rather slow 1.8% rate.

Information on these charts will be up-dated when July figures are available.

NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION JULY 2001 TRAFFIC SUMMARY
	AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC 1	WEEKDAY 2	WEEKEND 3
I-15 NEV/CA STATELINE (PRIMM, NEVADA)	No data	No data	No data
I-15 MESQUITE	No data	No data	No data
SR 163 LAUGHLIN - Davis Dam Rd.	No data	No data	No data
US 95 AT SEARCHLIGHT	No data	No data	No data