Koval Lane Fully Closes Between Rochelle and Harmon Starting Nov. 14 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix

by Ryan Rose

What Happened: The Full List of Closures

The big one is Koval. FOX5 reported that the road will be fully closed between Rochelle and Harmon avenues starting at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 14, with the closure listed through Nov. 23. News 3 called it a 24-hour closure that continues through race weekend. So this is not an overnight job. It is day and night for about 10 days.

The rest of the work is scheduled in stages. Here is what the race release lists for the coming days, as reported by FOX5:

Las Vegas Boulevard, Nov. 9 to 13: Lanes are reduced between Spring Mountain Road and Harmon Avenue from midnight to noon. One lane stays open each way.
Sands Avenue, through Nov. 13: Lanes are reduced between Las Vegas Boulevard and Manhattan Street from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday through Friday. One lane stays open each way.
Gantry installation, Nov. 10 to 12: Crews will close two lanes at a time at different points along the circuit. Each closure should last about 30 minutes.
Koval Lane, Nov. 14 to 23: Fully closed between Rochelle and Harmon avenues.

Walkers need to plan too. Two pedestrian bridges will close from midnight to 9 a.m. One links Bellagio and Horseshoe. The other links Harmon Shops and the southeast corner at Harmon. FOX5 lists those closures as Nov. 11 to 14. News 3 shows Nov. 11 to 13 in one spot and Nov. 12 to 14 in another, so plan for the longer window and check before you head out.

A Road Closed sign and orange caution tape in front of a construction area on a city street

Bus riders get hit the longest. Seven Route 119 stops on Koval Lane, between Rochelle Avenue and Westchester Drive, are closed around the clock through Friday, Dec. 18. On Sands Avenue, westbound stop 2505 and eastbound stop 2504 are closed around the clock through Nov. 25. Westbound stop 2572 on Spring Mountain Road is closed through that date as well.

The Regional Transportation Commission also warned that gantry work from Nov. 10 to 12 may delay the Deuce and other Strip-area routes, so riders should allow extra time. From Nov. 17 to 25, the Deuce and Routes 119, 202 and 203 will run special race-week routes and schedules. Those routes will be in the rideRTC and Transit apps.

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

Most people who visit for the race will never drive Koval. Locals will. Koval runs just east of the Strip, and it is a back door for people who work at the resorts, clean the rooms, cook the food and fix the air conditioning. When the front of the Strip is slow, Koval is where those people go.

That is why this closure stings. For about 10 days, one of the main ways around the Strip is gone, and crews are also squeezing the Strip itself in the days before. Monday through Friday this week, the boulevard is down to one lane each way from midnight to noon. If you work a graveyard shift or an early morning shift, that window lands right on your commute.

We already got a preview of what happens when this corridor gets pinched. In October, crews closed the intersection of Koval and Flamingo for five days to put in a temporary vehicle bridge. FOX5 traffic reporter Ken Smith said that intersection normally carries more than 50,000 vehicles a day. Later that month, FOX5 reported traffic backing up on Koval toward Flamingo, with a bottleneck for drivers heading north.

Look closely at the dates, too. A closure that starts on a Saturday and runs to the Monday after race weekend covers two weekends and one full work week. That means five straight weekday commutes without this stretch of Koval, plus the Monday after.

Bus riders should read one detail twice. The road closure is listed as Rochelle to Harmon, while the closed Route 119 stops are listed as Rochelle to Westchester. Those are not the same limits. So do not assume your stop is fine just because your block is not part of the road closure. Look up your exact stop before you leave home.

Now think about who feels it most. If you rent or own in the apartments and condos east of Koval, your usual way out may change. If you ride Route 119, your stop may be gone until Dec. 18, almost four weeks after the race ends. And if you work at a shop or restaurant along the route, your customers may have a harder time reaching you.

That last part is not a guess. In September, FOX5 talked to Mohit Singh, who manages Las Vegas Souvenirs & Gifts near Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. "Our sales have dropped significantly," Singh said. He told FOX5 that the construction has made the store harder for people on foot to reach and has pushed rideshare drop-offs farther away. He also said conditions have improved as construction timelines got shorter.

One thing we could not nail down is how people who live or work on the closed stretch will get in and out. Rules for local access on Koval between Rochelle and Harmon are NOT FOUND in the reports we read. If you live, work or have a delivery on that stretch, check the official transportation site or call your property manager before Nov. 14.

Background and History

If this feels familiar, it should. The Grand Prix came to the Strip in 2023, and the same chunk of Koval has become a yearly closure. Clark County's release for the 2025 race listed Koval from Rochelle to Harmon as fully closed for 24 hours from Nov. 15 to Nov. 24 last year. That race ran Nov. 20 to 22. This year's closure moves up one day to match this year's race dates.

The buildup started months ago. Road work for this race was announced in late August. Koval at Rochelle saw overnight lane cuts in early September, and Route 119 detoured around four stops for one night. Harmon Avenue followed with overnight work from Sept. 7 to 18.

Cars lined up in traffic at night with city lights behind them

October was the rough month for Koval. The Koval and Flamingo intersection closed around the clock from Sunday night, Oct. 11, until 9 p.m. on Oct. 16 for the Flamingo bridge. Then Koval had overnight lane cuts from Oct. 19 to 23, leaving one lane each way between Rochelle and Westchester. By late October, FOX5 reported that the vehicle bridges at Audrie and Top Golf were done and that grandstand work was the most active part of the route.

How long does all of this take? For the 2025 race, LVSportsBiz reported 112 days of track installation and dismantling, running from early September to Dec. 24. A matching total for 2026 is NOT FOUND. This year's Route 119 stop closures running to Dec. 18 suggest that the Koval work does not end when the cars leave, but we did not see a release that says why that date was picked.

What Happens Next

The next two weeks go in order, and it helps to see it all in one place. Here is the calendar as of the Nov. 6 reports:

Mon., Nov. 9: Las Vegas Boulevard lane cuts begin, midnight to noon, from Spring Mountain to Harmon.
Tue., Nov. 10 to Thu., Nov. 12: Gantry work closes two lanes at a time for about 30 minutes. Deuce delays are possible.
Wed., Nov. 11: Overnight pedestrian bridge closures begin, based on the FOX5 dates.
Fri., Nov. 13: Last listed day for the boulevard and Sands Avenue lane cuts.
Sat., Nov. 14: Koval closes at 12:01 a.m.
Tue., Nov. 17: Race-week bus routes begin.
Thu., Nov. 19 to Sat., Nov. 21: Race days.
Mon., Nov. 23: Last listed day of the Koval closure. The exact reopening hour is NOT FOUND.
Wed., Nov. 25: Last day for race-week bus routes and the closed Sands and Spring Mountain stops. It is also the day before Thanksgiving.
Fri., Dec. 18: Last listed day for the seven closed Koval stops.

Here is the piece to watch. The exact hours that the Strip and the rest of the circuit will close to local traffic during race week are NOT FOUND in the 2026 reports we read. As a rough guide only, Clark County's 2025 release showed closures starting at 12:01 a.m. on the Wednesday of race week, then reopening and closing again each day, with closures starting at 1 p.m. during the three race days. The roads fully reopened at 2 a.m. on the Sunday after. This year's hours could be different, so do not plan around last year's.

After race weekend, expect some work to linger. The seven Koval stops stay closed until Dec. 18, and this story does not end this year. The Review-Journal reported in June that F1 and the LVCVA committed to a 10-year extension through 2037, and in September that the 2027 race stays in November. So the week before Thanksgiving looks like it will keep being race week here for a long time.

Ryan's Take

I am not here to tell you the race is good or bad. Plenty of people in this town make real money that week, and plenty of people lose hours of their lives sitting in it. Both things are true. What I care about is that you are not surprised at 5 a.m. on your way to work.

Formula 1 race cars speeding around a track during a Grand Prix

Here is the real estate side. I have no solid data showing that the race moves home values near Koval up or down. Numbers on that are NOT FOUND, and I will not make them up. But with a deal running through 2037, the closure is now part of living near that corridor, like summer heat or the 215 at rush hour. If you are buying a condo near the Strip, ask yourself how you would get in and out during race week. If you are buying in the southwest valley or Summerlin and you work at a resort, map a route that does not need Koval or the boulevard in November. It is a small question to ask now, and it is a big headache to learn the answer later.

What You Can Do

Start with the free alerts. Text F1LV to 31996 for a summary twice a week, and check transportation.f1lasvegasgp.com for maps and changes. Bus riders can go to rtcsnv.com/alertsanddetours or call 702-228-7433 and pick option 4. Before Nov. 17, open the rideRTC or Transit app and look up your route, because the race-week version may not match the one you know.

Then do a practice run this week, before Koval closes. Paradise Road, Swenson Street and Maryland Parkway run north and south to the east of Koval. Dean Martin Drive and Interstate 15 sit to the west of the Strip. These are general options we picked by looking at the map, not an official detour list. An official detour map for this closure is NOT FOUND in the reports we read, and any road near the circuit could be busier than usual.

Las Vegas Strip hotels lit up at night along the Grand Prix corridor

A few more simple moves can save you a bad morning:

If you work near the Strip, ask your manager now about parking, shift changes and which entrance will be open.
If you have an airport run, a doctor visit or a delivery between Nov. 14 and 23, add extra time or move it if you can.
If you ride the Deuce, allow extra time from Nov. 10 to 12 during gantry work.
If you walk across the Harmon or Bellagio bridges early in the morning, check the dates first and plan a different crossing.
If you own a business along the route, tell your customers how to reach you. A short post or a sign can help.

Be careful out there, too. Drivers who do not know the detours will be mixed in with people on foot, and lanes will shift overnight. Slow down around the cones and give the crews room. Everyone is trying to get to the same place, and most of us just want to get to work and back home.

Have questions about how this affects your home or neighborhood? Reach out to Ryan Rose or text/call 702-747-5921 anytime. Ryan Rose | Real Broker, LLC | 702-747-5921 | ryan@rosehomeslv.com | rosehomeslv.com