Downtown Las Vegas’ grand entryway nears completion

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman can’t hide her excitement about the gateway arch sign welcoming visitors into downtown that is nearing completion.

Recent nighttime testing of the dual LED arches, which stand 80 feet tall and cross over Las Vegas Boulevard with a retro “City of Las Vegas” logo hanging in the center, already has residents and visitors taking notice.

“Hopefully that is just the beginning of the

attention that’s going to be paid to it,” Goodman told the Review-Journal.

The $6.5 million project between St. Louis and Bob Stupak avenues is slated to wrap up by the end of the month — before Thanksgiving if Goodman has her way — and will serve as a can’t-miss-point where visitors will know they’ve arrived downtown.

“We wanted it to be a smooth flow into downtown from the Strip into the north part (of Las Vegas Boulevard) and the core of the city where all the shoulder-to-shoulder excitement takes place,” Goodman said. “Whether it’s to get a brew or a nice breakfast or to enjoy the entertainment we have there. We needed something to have that transition. … We wanted to mark you’re on your way into fabulous, exciting downtown.”

The city explored a variety of possibilities for what the gateway marker would be, but the LED arch concept was chosen, with Goodman wanting whatever was built to be illuminated.

The technology didn’t stop there, as the structure is set up to play music.

“We have to be very cautious there because we’re next to a hotel (The Stratosphere) and we don’t want it bothering their sleep, but yet we want to be festive and wonderful every time there’s a holiday,” Goodman said. “Whether it’s Christmas or New Year’s or whatever, we can go ahead and celebrate and have some music in addition to the lights that we can make any color in celebration of anything.”

The archway wasn’t intended to detract from the most famous sign in the valley, the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign on the south end of the Strip. The city simply wanted to help visitors differentiate the two areas of town, Goodman said.

The arches are a part of a continuing effort to update infrastructure and signage around downtown Las Vegas. They’re also located near the showgirl installation at Las Vegas Boulevard and Main Street, which opened in 2018.

Commenters on social media posts about the arches have called the sign’s $6.5 million price tag into question, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

Goodman said the money for the project was set aside well before the pandemic hit Las Vegas hard.

If planning for the project had occurred during the past few months, instead of years prior, Goodman said the city wouldn’t have even considered it.

“People come first,” Goodman said. “There’s so many people out of work. That’s where our concentration is all the time everyday, is trying to keep us open. Downtown we want to keep the city open.”

There are plans to add other installations in the downtown area, but Goodman declined to go into detail on those because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we’re beginning to see now is how right we were. We should have stayed open (all along),” Goodman said. “There was COVID, then we shut down, and during the shutdown there was COVID and there’s still COVID. So until we have the final vaccine and everything else, all we can do is keep moving along. So, we’re very cautious with every penny we allocate for anything.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.