Pedestrian bridges crossing many paths

Owners of a 40-year-old restaurant in the shadow of the Strip's newest megaresorts aren't the only business people anxious for Clark County's decision regarding future pedestrian bridges.

A successful Budget Rental Car office -- located at the corner of Sands Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard -- stands in the way of a planned footbridge.

"We understand there is a need for pedestrian safety around there," Budget Controller Steve Badilla said. "However, we have an interest there and would like to be a part of the growth in that area. We don't want to be booted out."

While the county is considering a controversial middle-of-the-block pedestrian bridge that would link Mirage Resorts to the Venetian, it still plans to go forward with a set of three footbridges at the Sands-Spring Mountain Road-Strip intersection.

Public Works spokesman Bobby Shelton said Tuesday that the department is in the early stages of designing the bridges for the increasingly busy intersection.

The touch-down point for the bridge that would cross Sands east of Las Vegas Boulevard has yet to be determined because of the location of Budget.

"They've talked to Budget; they may not want to relocate and give up a prime spot for their business," Shelton said. "We may try to design something that would go around them or close to them without destroying what they think they have there."

While negotiating with Badilla and Budget's attorney, Sean McGowan, public works officials also are scheduling meetings with Rosewood Grille owner Alan LeWinter and Venetian and Mirage Resorts to work out a compromise on the megaresorts' overcrossing.

LeWinter protested the bridge planned for the middle of the block because escalators on the eastern side of the Strip would guide pedestrians directly into the $1.2 billion Venetian.

Pulling tourists off the sidewalk could severely impact the number of customers who frequent Rosewood Grille, a restaurant his family has owned since 1961.

"Obviously it would affect us," LeWinter said. "Right now that crosswalk leads directly to the front door."

Representatives with the Venetian and Mirage Resorts initially approached the county in September and offered to pay for the south leg of the four bridges planned for the Las Vegas Boulevard intersection, where Sands connects from the east and Spring Mountain comes in from the west.

The offer was made when public works officials announced the new bridge system wouldn't be completed until 2000, well after the Venetian opens.

In exchange for paying for the $4 million bridge, the Venetian and Treasure Island were excused from the section of their development agreements that say the casinos must pitch in 25 percent of the cost for the bridges.

"The resorts' proposal will be beneficial in that it provides a completed south pedestrian bridge between the Venetian and Treasure Island resorts at a date when considerable increases in pedestrian volume are expected," the county report says.

In January, casino representatives returned to the commission and asked permission to build the bridge 900 feet south of the intersection. They claimed the touch-down point for the intersection footbridge would have interfered with Treasure Island's world-renowned pirate battle.

The new plan was approved despite objection from the planning division.

"We think bridges should be constructed near intersections, not in the middle of blocks. We think by allowing bridges to be built mid-block, we could see a proliferation of bridges along the Strip," said Charles Pulsifer, a senior management analysis for the planning department.

Critics of the Mirage-Venetian proposal argue that the county's "free" bridge may actually cost it more money.

If the county is forced to condemn the Budget Rental Car property, it would drive up the cost of the project. Rather than contributing a combined 25 percent of the cost to build the bridges, the two casinos would contribute 12.5 percent.

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