Pact foreseen for pedestrian bridges

Adrienne Packer

Monday, Nov. 2, 1998 | 11:07 a.m.

Pedestrian bridges planned for the Strip at Flamingo Road will be discussed once again during Tuesday's County Commission meeting, but this time an agreement is expected.

The two overpasses that will link the Caesars Palace and Barbary Coast hotel-casinos and Bally's and Barbary Coast are expected to cost $12.8 million.

The county agreed long ago to foot half the cost and asked the casinos to pitch in for the remaining amount. While Caesars, Barbary Coast and Bally's haggled over who would pay which portion, the Flamingo Hilton hotel-casino requested a bridge of its own.

Flamingo officials said they would pay the entire cost of a third new bridge -- which would make a total of five foot-crossings at the Flamingo Road-Las Vegas Boulevard intersection.

Barbary Coast representatives have balked at the idea of a V-shaped bridge that would funnel visitors from Caesars to either the Barbary Coast or the Flamingo-Hilton. The county hasn't agreed to the fifth structure.

The controversy has made it difficult for the county to create a "special improvement district," necessary for pooling the money that would allow the project to get under way. Once the SID is set up, each entity would put forth its share of the cost.

The item was initially scheduled to be discussed during the board's Oct. 6 meeting, but casino officials had yet to agree on a funding plan. It is expected to be heard during Tuesday's public-hearing portion of the meeting.

Clark County officials said they originally had hoped to have the bridges completed by the opening of the Bellagio earlier this month. Mirage Resorts Inc., which owns Bellagio, paid for two pedestrian bridges that link the 3,000-room hotel-casino to Caesars Palace and to Bally's.

Once all four -- or five -- bridges are finished, county traffic specialists predict that the amount of vehicle traffic passing through the intersection per green light will increase by 40 percent.