Las Vegas business owner criticizes F1 impact, cites pedestrian bridge as major disruption

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The second Las Vegas Grand Prix may have come and gone for the year, but road closures continue as construction to remove the track is still underway.

Nearly a month after Formula 1 cars raced through the city, crews are now working to take apart the bridge built for the race over the intersection of Koval and Flamingo.

For Jay’s Market which is located at the intersection and took a financial hit during the first race, the owner Wade Bohn said this year was worse.

“It’s worse than last year, by about 10-percent maybe 15-percent,” Bohn said. “In 2022, I did $9.6 million in sales, 2023 I lost $3.2 million of that 9.6 the year before, this year I am positive that we will be down an additional 10 to 15 percent.”

This year F1 added a pedestrian bridge at the intersection that further blocked off foot traffic to the small business.

“When the pedestrian bridge was built F1 said it would benefit me, well what they did is they built that bridge across Koval, the pedestrian bridge took property from me, and then they put a fence up so nobody could get to me, so I don’t know how the pedestrian bridge helped me at all,” Bohn said.

He said this year’s 90-minute race cost him more losses than the first one.

“At least last year, I had people come on my property to try and watch the race through the fence, this year not a single person came on my property,” he said.

With his business still blocked off nearly a month after the last race car crossed the finish line, his store continues to lose business.

Bohn said he doesn’t believe the benefits of the race outweigh the losses, and as a small business owner to continue to lose revenue can have a lasting effect.

“People think we need F1, we don’t need F1, F1 needs us, but they are destroying an iconic city,” he said. “I mean I am 61 years old, I was born and raised here, I have seen this town reinvent itself time and time again, this isn’t reinventing, this is destroying people, businesses, it’s terrible.”

As for the closures, the sidewalks around the intersection of Koval and Flamingo will remain closed until Friday.

The bridge is expected to be completely taken down by Saturday evening.

News 3 has reached out to Formula 1. We’re waiting to hear back.