MOB Traffic invests three years in support of the Las Vegas Marathon. 

A little more than three years ago, Joe Jurisic, director of business development for Brooksee, reached out to Paul Ames at Masters of Barricades (MOB Traffic) with a novel idea. Brooksee, an all-in-one endurance event provider, wanted to create a signature city marathon in Las Vegas that could eventually rival the marathons in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. 

As a general concept, wanting to create a signature event isn’t new for this city. MOB Traffic frequently receives calls from companies with a vision to do something extraordinary in Las Vegas. The challenge, however, is that one thing consistently stands in the way. Las Vegas is a city with a million dreams, and only a few dozen become realities.

“When Paul first mentioned the marathon, I added it to our long list of unicorns,” says Lindsay Kullman, general manager of MOB Traffic. “Keep in mind that this had nothing to do with how I felt about Brooksee. I’m just pragmatic in knowing what a challenge it is to run the Rock’ n’ Roll Running Series, the world’s largest running party. Its event footprint is bigger than Formula 1, Life Is Beautiful, or the Super Bowl.” 

As envisioned by Brooksee, the Las Vegas Marathon would set a new record. The route would span more than 26 miles, cross multiple jurisdictions, and directly impact the public’s right of way on the west side of the valley. It would also require ten times the amount of traffic control equipment when compared to the Rock’ n’ Roll Running Series.

While many traffic control companies in the area would have passed outright, Brooksee had several things going for it at MOB Traffic. Having worked with Salt Lake City-based Brooksee on other events like the Revel Race series, Ames was immediately up for the challenge. 

“Paul was determined to help Brooksee bring this event to life in Las Vegas despite knowing it would take months of planning to prepare for something so massive,” said Kullman. “And the Las Vegas Marathon would be on top of about 40 other special events already on the books in October, as well as the hundred or so other projects we manage daily.” 

Even after Charleston Boulevard was selected as a primary event corridor, MOB Traffic was just getting started. It would be responsible for addressing every residential and commercial access point along a stretch that effectively cut the entire west portion of the city in half and eventually culminate into a winding path past residences, businesses, and casinos in the booming Downtown Las Vegas area. Even after including 2.8 miles of the marathon inside Red Rock Canyon, the balance of the race would be run along state route 159 onto eastbound Charleston Boulevard to Martin Luther King Boulevard, east on Bonneville Avenue, north on Grand Central Parkway, and east on Symphony Park before meandering around Downtown Las Vegas until finishing on Fremont Street, with the finish line at Fremont and Las Vegas Boulevard.

To manage a marathon this massive, MOB Traffic would have to set more than 34 message boards, 45 arrow boards, 1,200 signs and 10,000 delineators, cones, and tapers. It would require more than 9,360 linear feet of water rail and 18,500 linear feet of concrete barrier rail. All equipment would be placed according to a traffic plan encompassing more than 350 pages. 

“Despite being the largest privately-owned traffic management company in the region, we still needed to purchase more water rail, hundreds of signs, and thousands of delineators,” said Kullman. “We made many of these purchases in the first quarter of the year on faith that the event would come to fruition. There were no guarantees.”

Specifically, the traffic plan became paramount to the entire race. As with any special event, there was a requirement to maintain as much public access as possible. Due to the event’s sheer size, with eastbound Charleston Boulevard being completely closed, MOB Traffic was asked to address every residential and business access point along the route. 

“After many revisions, we were able to figure out a plan that addressed every single property along the route, and devise an aggressive reopening schedule along all major north and southbound arterials,” said Ames. “Our goal from day one was to open all major roadways in the west valley by 11 a.m. after the race.”

Ames devised a vehicle barrier plan for all major intersections to accomplish this daunting task. Doing so provided the runners with the safety they required and allowed for the equipment to be quickly moved out of the way as soon as the last group of runners passed each intersection. In effect, the traffic control measures along major arteries would be rolled up behind the runners, expediting the reopening of the valley.  

“Working with Joe and his team over three years, it was really something else to see this unfold and come to fruition,” says Ames. “Brooksee is one of the most thorough and professional race companies that I have worked with over the years, and the success of this marathon is due to their dedication to the race community. I truly believe this race will explode in the coming years, thanks to the massive collaboration that came together to make this possible.”

Along with Brooksee and MOB Traffic, other partners included the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. National Park Service, Nevada Department of Transportation, Regional Transportation Commission, Clark County, and the City of Las Vegas. MOB Traffic also relied on an extensive subcontractor and vendor list, which included Quail Construction, Roadsafe Traffic Systems, Parking and Transportation Group, United Rentals, Trench Shoring, Scott's Heavy Haul, MZ Tranzport, TrafFix Devices, Water Pros, Interwest Safety, and A Barricade Co.