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Tourists pose in front of the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign Tuesday, March 6, 2012.
By Conor Shine (contact) 
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 | 2:58 p.m.
The famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign along Las Vegas Boulevard could be getting some improvements to increase pedestrian safety.
The issue: In September, commissioners asked staff to study and report back on ways to improve pedestrian safety around the sign. That report was presented to the board on Tuesday.
The vote: No action was taken; instead, commissioners advised staff to work on building a crosswalk across Las Vegas Boulevard to the sign.
What it means: A new stoplight and crosswalk could be installed across Las Vegas Boulevard to provide pedestrians easier access to the 54-year-old sign located south of Mandalay Bay.
Staff presented the council with four options on Tuesday: the crosswalk, two bridge options and an option to relocate the sign to the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard.
The crosswalk was the cheapest, easiest option and would cost about $300,000 to install. It would likely be built as part of a $500,000 expansion to the sign’s parking lot that commissioners approved in April.
The crosswalk, which would begin operating in early 2014, would be paid for using a portion of room tax revenue earmarked for vehicular and pedestrian improvements in the resort corridor.
Commissioners seemed to prefer the bridge options because they wouldn’t disrupt the flow of traffic, but they were turned off by the $2 million-plus price tag for each.
The most drastic option would have moved the sign from the median to the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard, about 500 feet south of where it stands, at a cost of $3.3 million.
Commissioners advised county staff to begin work on the crosswalk but to also search for ways to eventually fund construction of a permanent bridge.
“When you look at that particular sign, it’s a world renowned iconic type sign. It’s an entrance to what we consider the world-famous resort corridor. Why are we nickel and diming something that’s so important to us?” Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said.
LOL
How does moving a sign 500 ft cost 3.3m? Rent a crane, cut it out, and plant it in the ground with some steal. I'm sure there is plenty of power to tap into around there.
What a load of crap. Great another stop light.
Put in a bridge, that would be the aesthetically pleasing thing and it wouldn't back traffic up.
Three Hundred Thousand dollars for a cross walk? Who's installing it workers imported from Europe? Four crosswalk signs made at the airport sign shop along with four metal poles from the county and two county employees with 20 gallons of paint and a tape measure is all it takes. Cost to taxpayers $500.00 total. Elections have consequences even local ones..
how about a tunnel under LVB?
It took them 20 years to figure out the sign needed a parking lot. So building a crosswalk in under 10 years is a good thing
Where do they get these bids? $300K for a few white stripes on asphalt that will have to be repainted every year! No wonder the gov't can't balance a budget; they don't know how to cut expenses. While education is going in the toilet and businesses are moving to other states we are building crosswalks. Not the best use of money.
Who the heck thinks building a bridge makes any sense for such a short distance?
I guess I'm the only one who noticed that the crosswalk option included a traffic light and not just painted stripes?
Sandy just easier to complain then read the whole article!
an underground passage would be a crime problem, same thing with an over ground bridge. What they should have is a electric gondola or tram and charge money. They could have a remote parking lot and people could ride the gondola ride (like Disneyland) to the sign, which could have more room once parking there is eliminated.
let the sign make $ instead of spending it. save the 300k and put 2 people to give tickets for jaywalking. done!
I vote they take the sign down, save money lol
I hear they want to make it the next monorail stop....
Just what we need, more drunk tourists crossing LVB, even with a light this is a disaster in the making. The idea of expanding parking and/or a tram type system as mred suggested are better ideas.