F1 Road Work Moves to Sands Avenue, and Koval Lane at Flamingo Fully Closes Oct. 11 to 16

by Ryan Rose

What Happened

The 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix runs Nov. 19 to 21. Race crews are now less than two months out, and the work is moving into new streets. Here is every new closure News 3 reported, in the order it starts.

Sands Avenue: starting the week of Sept. 28

Where: Sands Avenue from Las Vegas Boulevard to Manhattan Street.
Hours: Overnight lane reductions from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday to Friday.
Lanes open: One lane stays open in each direction.
All-day closures, too: One eastbound lane is closed at all hours between Las Vegas Boulevard and the Palazzo garage. One westbound lane is closed at all hours from Manhattan Street to the Palazzo garage.
Turn lane: One northbound left-turn lane at Sands Avenue and Koval Lane is closed at all hours.

That last point matters. Even in the middle of the day, Sands is not running at full size. If you cut across on Sands to reach Koval or Paradise, expect a tighter squeeze at every hour, not just at night.

Audrie Street: Oct. 4 to 9

Where: Audrie Street north of Harmon Avenue.
Hours: Full overnight closure from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Audrie is a short street, but it is one of the side routes people use to get around Harmon traffic. For six nights, it is fully closed overnight.

Las Vegas Boulevard: Oct. 5 to 30

Where: Las Vegas Boulevard from Spring Mountain Road to Harmon Avenue.
Hours: Lane reductions from midnight to 9 a.m., Monday to Friday.
Lanes open: One lane stays open in each direction.
Turns: Various left-turn lanes along the boulevard will be affected.

Notice the hours. This one runs until 9 a.m., which means it overlaps with the early morning commute. If you drive the Strip on your way to a day shift, you will feel this one.

Road closed sign surrounded by orange traffic cones, like the full closure planned at Koval Lane and Flamingo Road from Oct. 11 to 16, 2026

Koval Lane at Flamingo Road: Oct. 11 to 16

What: A full 24-hour closure at Koval Lane and Flamingo Road, including sidewalks.
When: From 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.
Why: Full installation of the Flamingo Vehicular Bridge.
Businesses: All businesses stay open and reachable.
Walking: Partial sidewalk closures from Oct. 11 to 16 for installation of the Flamingo Pedestrian Bridge.

This is the headline. Most race prep so far has been overnight lane cuts where at least one lane stays open. This is different. It is a full closure, day and night, for five straight days.

Still going: Las Vegas Boulevard at Bellagio through Nov. 9

Two southbound lanes on Las Vegas Boulevard stay closed from Flamingo Road to Bellagio Drive through Nov. 9 for installation of the Bellagio Fountain Club. The Bellagio entrance and exit stay open, with lane shifts from time to time. The sidewalk there is closed until Nov. 9.

Wrapping up by Oct. 2

Two earlier pieces end soon. Overnight lane reductions on Harmon Avenue at Audrie Street, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., Sunday to Thursday, continue through Oct. 2. Left turns at Harmon and Audrie are eliminated outside of work hours, with a flagger on site at all hours. Overnight lane reductions on Koval Lane from Westchester Drive to just south of Rochelle Avenue, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., also continue through Oct. 2.

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

Koval Lane is a locals' road. It runs behind the east side of the Strip, and it is how a lot of people who work in the resort corridor skip the traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard. Housekeepers, cooks, dealers, security officers, and valet staff use it every day. When Koval closes at Flamingo for five full days, those trips get longer.

Flamingo Road is one of the main east and west roads in the valley. It links the Strip to the University District, the neighborhoods off Maryland Parkway and Eastern, and the east side. The closure is at the Koval and Flamingo intersection, and News 3 did not say Flamingo itself closes end to end. But any time a major crossing shuts down, drivers spill onto nearby streets. Paradise Road, Harmon, and Tropicana are the likely spots where you will notice more cars.

Night and early morning workers feel it most. The Sands work runs 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The Las Vegas Boulevard work runs midnight to 9 a.m. Those are the exact hours when swing and graveyard shifts start and end. The 8-to-5 crowd barely notices. The people who keep the resorts running overnight notice every night.

City bus parked near a building, representing RTC Route 119, Route 202, and Deuce riders facing October 2026 detours near the Las Vegas Strip

Bus riders lose stops, not just time. Here are the RTC changes News 3 reported:

Route 119 (Simmons/Koval): Stops between Krueger Street and Rochelle Avenue close nightly, Sunday through Thursday, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., through the morning of Oct. 2.
Sands Avenue stops: Westbound stop 2505 is closed 24/7. Eastbound stop 2504 is closed nightly, Sunday through Thursday, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., through Oct. 16.
Spring Mountain Road: One more westbound stop closes from 9 p.m. Oct. 1 to 6 a.m. Oct. 3.
Deuce on the Strip: Southbound stops on Las Vegas Boulevard close nightly, Monday through Friday, from midnight to 9 a.m., Oct. 5 through Oct. 30.
Routes 119 (Simmons/Koval) and 202 (Flamingo): Detours from Oct. 11 to 16 for the Flamingo Vehicular Bridge installation.

A driver can pick a different road. A bus rider cannot pick a different bus. If you or someone in your house rides Route 202 on Flamingo or Route 119 on Koval, the week of Oct. 11 needs a plan. That might mean an earlier bus, a ride from a coworker, or a longer walk to a different stop.

People living near the route feel it too. There are a lot of apartments and condos east of the Strip, in the area around Koval, Harmon, Flamingo, and Paradise. Many people chose them for a short commute. Five days without the Koval and Flamingo crossing will test that. Deliveries, rideshare pickups, and visitors may all need to come in a different way.

Small businesses stay open, but customers have to find them. News 3 says all businesses near Koval and Flamingo remain accessible during the closure. That is good news. Still, when a main crossing is blocked, some drivers assume the whole area is shut and go somewhere else. If you have a favorite lunch spot, gas station, or shop near that corner, it is still there. Take the long way in and give them your business that week. The same goes for places along Sands Avenue while the lanes are cut.

Background and History

The Las Vegas Grand Prix is a street race. It runs on public roads, not a permanent track. That is why this happens every fall. The circuit has to be built up on real streets, used for one race weekend, and then taken down again. Koval, Harmon, Sands, Flamingo, and Las Vegas Boulevard all come up year after year because they are part of that footprint.

Formula 1 came back to Las Vegas in November 2023. The first year brought a lot of local frustration about long build-outs, detours, and businesses that lost customers. Since then, organizers have put more work into overnight windows and have done a better job telling people what is coming. This year's schedule comes with an online map and a text alert service, which helps.

Busy Las Vegas street at night with neon lights, the kind of overnight resort corridor traffic affected by Sands Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard lane cuts

This fall's work started in early September. The first pieces were overnight lane reductions on Harmon Avenue and a short stretch of Koval Lane near Rochelle Avenue, along with a Route 119 detour. Those were lane cuts. You could still get through. The new phase is bigger. It adds new streets, longer hours on the Strip itself, and the first full closure of the season.

The pattern is easy to see once you know it. Early work is light and mostly overnight. As race week gets closer, the work gets heavier because more physical pieces have to go in: bridges, barriers, grandstands, and hospitality areas. The Bellagio Fountain Club work and the Flamingo bridges are part of that heavier stage. After the race, there is a teardown period, and that brings its own closures.

What Happens Next

Here is the calendar in one place, so you can plan week by week:

Now through Oct. 2: Harmon at Audrie and Koval from Westchester to south of Rochelle, overnight lane cuts. Route 119 stops between Krueger and Rochelle closed overnight.
Week of Sept. 28: Sands Avenue overnight lane cuts, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday to Friday, plus some all-hours lane closures.
Oct. 1 to 3: One westbound Spring Mountain Road bus stop closed, 9 p.m. Oct. 1 to 6 a.m. Oct. 3.
Oct. 4 to 9: Audrie Street north of Harmon fully closed overnight, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Oct. 5 to 30: Las Vegas Boulevard, Spring Mountain to Harmon, lane cuts midnight to 9 a.m. on weekdays. Southbound Deuce stops closed during those hours.
Oct. 11 to 16: Koval Lane and Flamingo Road fully closed, 9 p.m. Sunday to 9 p.m. Friday. Routes 119 and 202 detoured.
Through Oct. 16: Sands Avenue bus stop 2504 closed overnight on Sunday through Thursday nights. Stop 2505 closed 24/7.
Through Nov. 9: Two southbound Strip lanes closed from Flamingo to Bellagio Drive. Sidewalk closed.
Nov. 19 to 21: Race weekend.

Road work schedules can change. Weather, delays, or a crew finishing early can move things around. The dates above are what News 3 reported on Sept. 25. Check the official sources below before a big trip, especially during the week of Oct. 11.

Expect more announcements, too. News 3's list runs through mid-October for road work and through Nov. 9 for the Bellagio lanes. Race organizers put out updates in weekly chunks, so the schedule for late October and early November should come out as those weeks get closer. The last few weeks before race weekend have been the busiest part of the build in past years.

Ryan's Take

I get this question every fall from people looking at condos and townhomes near the Strip: is the F1 construction a deal breaker? My honest answer is no, but it is real, and you should see it with your own eyes. For a couple of months each year, the streets east of the Strip get cones, lane cuts, detours, and now a full five-day closure at one of the main crossings. The rest of the year, you have one of the shortest commutes in the valley to thousands of jobs.

If you are shopping in that area this fall, drive it at the hours you would really drive it. Go at 10 p.m. or 6 a.m., not noon on a Saturday. If you are selling a home near the route, think about timing your showings. A buyer who hits a closed intersection on the way out leaves with a bad feeling about the drive, even if the closure ends in a week. Morning and early afternoon showings before the overnight work starts are usually the better call. And if the week of Oct. 11 lands on your closing or move-in date near Koval and Flamingo, tell your movers now so they can map a way in.

City street filled with traffic at night near the Las Vegas Strip, where locals face Grand Prix lane reductions through October 2026

What You Can Do

Sign up for text alerts. Text "F1LV" to 31966 to get twice-weekly text summaries of road updates for the week ahead. This is the simplest thing you can do, and it takes ten seconds.

Check the official map before you leave. The race's transportation site at transportation.f1lasvegasgp.com has the most current road information. For bus changes and stop closures, check the RTC's alerts and detours page through rtcsnv.com or the rideRTC app.

Plan your Koval week now. If you usually cross Flamingo at Koval, pick your backup route before Oct. 11 so you are not figuring it out in traffic. Give yourself extra time, especially the first day or two while everyone else is figuring it out too. If you ride Routes 119 or 202, allow extra travel time, as RTC advises, and look up the detour before the week starts.

Tell the people who depend on you. If you manage a crew, let them know before the closures start. If you live in a building near the route, share the dates with neighbors. If you have family members who work nights on the Strip, send them this guide. Information moves faster in a group text than on a road sign.

Walk with care. Sidewalks at Koval and Flamingo will be partly closed from Oct. 11 to 16, and the sidewalk along the Strip by the Bellagio is closed until Nov. 9. Follow posted signs and cross where it is marked. Crews are working a few feet from moving traffic, often in the dark.

Have questions about how this affects your home or neighborhood? Reach out to Ryan Rose or text/call 702-747-5921 anytime.