In the mid-1990s, Fourth Street was reconfigured as a one-way artery. It was a welcome change—it eased traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard and pointed tourists directly at the Fremont Street Experience. But it also did some harm: Enigma Garden Cafe, a now-defunct coffeehouse located near Fourth and Charleston, was very nearly driven out of business by the road work. Owner Julie Brewer, goaded beyond endurance by the relentless jackhammering, put a terse, hand-lettered A-frame sign in front of her business: “We are open during (de)construction.”
Today, it’s Main Street’s turn. Over the course of the next two years, Main will be transformed into a northbound one-way; one block to the west, Commerce Street is being reconfigured to one-way southbound. This is necessary work: The sewer lines are ancient, the sidewalks aren’t up to current ADA code and the traffic flow is all wrong for a Downtown that regularly hosts high-traffic events like First Friday. When finished, there will be bike lanes, improved street parking and sidewalks wide enough for art walks and outdoor seating.
We just have to get there—and in the meantime, no one’s taking any chances.
“With these big projects, when they have to shut down the street, it’s at night—and that’s when we’re open. So, I’m concerned,” says Pamela Dylag, co-proprietor of Velveteen Rabbit. “I don’t want people to have the perception that it’s going to be difficult to come [here]. There is absolutely still access to our business.”
And the City of Las Vegas—working closely with contractor Las Vegas Paving Corp.—will make sure it stays that way. No one will get Enigma’d.
“The big Main Street work is going to be the last phase of construction,” says Jeremy Leavitt, program manager for the city’s Public Works Department. The first phase, already in progress, is preparing Commerce to take on Main’s southbound traffic—a tall order considering a large stretch of Commerce, from Bonneville to Charleston, is barely a street at all.
“We call it the alley portion, because that’s what it is now—it dead-ends, and it doesn’t have the width we have on Main,” Leavitt says. The new Commerce will continue straight through Charleston—sidewalks, bike lanes and all—and allow Las Vegas Paving to work on Main in a less obtrusive way.
Parking will also be addressed. Leavitt notes that angle-in spots have been added on streets adjacent to Main. Property owners are being asked to allow temporary lots on vacant parcels. Giant LCD signs will provide up-to-the-minute routing and parking info.
And some business owners, like ReBar’s Derek Stonebarger, are building their own solutions. “There’s a little less than an acre-lot [behind ReBar], which I’m going to turn into an event center and parking lot,” Stonebarger says, adding that it’s not just for ReBar customers. “I wanna open it up to everybody, as long as it doesn’t get crazy.”
Both Stonebarger and Dylag are excited for a new Main Street. In the meantime, however, it’s business as usual. “We’re going to keep planning events that draw people to us,” Dylag says. “There wasn’t a lot of traffic on Main Street when Velveteen Rabbit first opened. We’ve always been kind of a destination.”
Stonebarger is even more sanguine about the construction still to come. “If 10,000 people can find a place to park on First Friday now,” he says, “I’m not really that worried about it.”
