Broken down road paver clogs traffic on Paradise

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

When a road paver the size of a bulldozer broke down in the middle of Paradise Road this morning, it took buses, taxis and cars 30 minutes to drive just one block to the Comdex computer trade show.

Paradise in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center was narrowed to one lane in each direction, causing major traffic backups, said Gus Michaels, an assistant district engineer with the Nevada Department of Transportation.

An NDOT crew working at night was in the middle of repaving that portion of Paradise when the paver broke down at 3 a.m., Michaels said. Paradise is being repaved to add three inches to the surface.

The crew was scheduled to stop working and remove its equipment by 6 a.m., freeing up the road for Comdex traffic, when the paver broke down between Commercial Center Drive and Desert Inn Road.

"It's one of those snafus that happened, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time," Michaels said. "It's causing a backup, there's no question."

Cars are "getting around it eventually," he said, "but when you're down to one lane, it's stop and go."

Crews were working to remove the paver this morning. The paving should be completed this week with work being done at night, Michaels said.

Meantime, Metro Police have changed the way they separate traffic outside the show this year, said Special Events Officer Steve Meriwether.

Buses are being routed to go in one way and out another.

"It's to keep the pedestrians safe and away from buses, taxis and any vehicle at all," Meriwether said. "We like to keep them all safe and healthy and get them home safely."

Comdex, the world's largest computer show, opened its doors Monday with a keynote speech by Intel President and CEO Andrew Grove. Today, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was to address the convention of about 210,000 computer industry professionals.

Visitors swamped the Strip and the area around the Las Vegas Convention Center for the 18th annual show. The show, which runs through Friday, has created traffic gridlock at the show sites at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas Hilton and Sands Expo Center.

Early-morning traffic will be disrupted around the Hilton Wednesday when a Comdex-sanctioned 5-kilometer run is conducted.

The run, sponsored by ViaGrafix, is set to begin at 6:30 a.m. with registration at 5:45. Runners will be using portions of Karen Avenue, Joe Brown Drive and Paradise Road.

Comdex is expected to mean an economic impact of $300 million during its five-day run.

Delegates are not known as heavy gamblers, but convention authority officials say the show will still have a major impact on the city's economy.

Comdex is charging more than 2,200 exhibitors $44.95 per square foot, making the Las Vegas exhibit space some of the world's most-expensive real estate.

On an annualized basis, that comes to more than $2,300 per square foot for the one-week show. The nonprofit Consumer Electronics Show, to be conducted in January, charges only $26 a square foot for the same space.

Tokyo-based Softbank Corp., which bought the Comdex show two years ago from its American founder, will get more than $60 million in rent for 1.35 million square feet of space at the show, which runs through Friday. Comdex pays $2.10 per square foot to the nonprofit Las Vegas Convention Center for the raw space, not including labor and other related costs.

The show fills the convention center, with additional exhibit space at the Las Vegas Hilton and the Sands Expo Center. Comdex exhibitors, including such industry giants as software company Microsoft Corp. and chipmaker Intel Corp., will introduce an estimated 10,000 new products. That averages out to about 250 product introductions per hour the show is open.

The smallest available space at Comdex, 10 square feet, goes for $4,495. All exhibitors are charged the same rate per square foot, regardless of booth size.

The most-expensive office space in the world costs $118.33 per square foot per year, the average rate in Hong Kong. The most expensive U.S. office space is in Washington, D.C., at $33.50. Midtown New York City property goes for $27.75.

Space represents between 20 percent and 25 percent of an exhibitor's cost, said Comdex Vice President Dick Schwab. Booth design and construction and employees' travel and lodging are other costs.

Schwab compared the money an exhibitor spends for exhibit space to the money a gardener spends for seeds.

"The amount of money that the garden supply house would charge me for seeds would be relatively small," said Schwab. "We're the seed of the industry."

Softbank, Japan's largest software distributor and a publisher, reported a 77.8 percent profit rise in the first half ended September.