LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The City of Las Vegas’s newest project is GreeNVision: The Stewart Avenue Complete Streets project, which is expected to be a transformation for the downtown area.
The design plan will start in 2023, the goal is to include wider sidewalks, improved lighting and bus stops, and adding landscaping and trees.
Kortney Olson has lived on Charleston and Las Vegas boulevards for the past three years and frequents the downtown area.
She told 8 News Now she felt the congestion and speeding drivers made it dangerous to be on the roads.
“People used to wait three seconds to beep their horn, and now it’s one second flat you better be ready to go,” said Olson. “People are on edge.”
As an active runner, Olson said she had seen a lot of close-call accidents.
“I was actually crossing Las Vegas Blvd. and Gass Avenue, and a truck took the corner and went up on the curb as I was getting ready to cross the street and it’s a four-lane road,” added Olson. “It’s great to make more room for improvements and encourage people to get on their bikes and be more active.
In an area where 28% of residents live below the poverty level, the city hopes to make the space safer and more accessible.
Reynaldo Herrera, lived on Fremont and Maryland parkway for a few years.
“The biggest issues are the homelessness there, the issues with crime and I witnessed a lot of crime when I was there and underdeveloped,” added Herrera. “There was a big chase, just going north of Fremont. It was dilapidated and needed a lot of attention and it’s awesome to hear that they’re moving to improve that area.”
The city hopes to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians by adding a corridor-wide speed limit reduction near intersections.
“The ability to use bikes now in a safe manner and giving that attention is a great thing for the community,” said Herrera. “It’s exciting to hear it. It’s just awesome to see the city giving attention to areas like that, hopefully, it could spread throughout North Vegas.”
The City of Las Vegas issued a statement regarding the project and is as follows.
The city applied for federal grant funds to refresh Stewart Avenue downtown at Eastern Avenue headed east to make it into a complete street. A complete street means that we will widen sidewalks, add trees, resurface and rest ripe the roadways and add clearly defined crosswalks. It may also include new traffic signals and flashers. The project is needed because Stewart and other streets in older areas in town are in need of improvement projects. These projects make the roadways safer and also make the streetscape more beautiful.
City of Las Vegas
The City of Las Vegas received $23.9 million in federal money through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The program aims to help urban and rural communities move forward on projects to modernize roads and make transportation safer, according to the city’s website.
Construction on the project is expected to start in late 2025.
