The Midtown Construction Project hit a major milestone today with the beginning of paving on Virginia Street. But with the progress comes new road closures, and new hurdles for businesses in the area.
With all of the utility work finally done in the area, old roads are finally coming up. As new asphalt and sidewalks are going down, the new phase also opens back up somewhat normal traffic to the region.
“Northbound traffic is going to be also occurring now, so that they will have access to Wells Avenue, Regency and those other side streets between Mt. Rose and Plumb,” said Jeff Wilbrecht, Project Manager for RTC.
But it also brings side street closures, like St. Lawrence, Moran, Taylor and Caliente.
"It's good and bad, it has impacted the businesses a little bit, about 20 percent on restaurants a little bit, and our usage is down a little," said DeeDee Desiderio-Schula, Owner of Sports West.
But some businesses have to get creative and supplement out the RTC signs for their own eye catching signs to divert business over to their storefront. For shops like El Adobe, it can be confusing even getting to the entrance.
"The only access to get here is through the alley,” said Raul Perumen, owner of El Adobe Café.
But even with a noticeable decline in his business, Raul keeps his eyes, and hopes on the future.
"They are doing pretty good, going fast so I hope after all this time a lot of the businesses around here will get the benefit," said Perumen.
“I think the end product is going to be phenomenal, I really do, I think it's going to be great for the community as a whole,” said Reno resident Brent Andriese.
RTC is also getting ready to announce the introduction of the Spirit bus to midtown, a discounted bus that takes you all the way to or from the university area.
“That's going to be a really great service to connect UNR to Downtown to Midtown, and it's a real inexpensive service to ride on," said Wilbrecht.
These improvements hope to bring more traffic to the Midtown corridor, and help businesses during construction.
"I just want to thank everybody, and don't give up on us....haha...we are here, we are here waiting," said Perumen.
For a list of closures and updates on the Midtown Construction Project, you can click here.
