In my last look at the construction happening downtown, I finished by saying that they needed to pick up the pace if they expected to finish the entire road in less than 5 months. Well after I said that they indeed did pick up the pace! At that point the new sidewalks only stretched from William to Robinson, and only on one side of the street.  In the three weeks since then they not only dug up and built the sidewalks on the opposite side of the street, they put down new pavement all the way from William to Robinson as well. Plus they have begun building the sidewalks south of Robinson. The month of June has been very productive, and I’m feeling better about the prospects of them hitting their deadline. Let’s take a look.

The biggest news is the newly paved street. This stretch of Carson was closed for three days while they tore out the old asphalt, regraded the streets, and laid down a new layer of fresh asphalt. They are going to put down 2 layers of asphalt in total, and only the first one is done for now. I assume they’re saving the final layer for when the road is all done, and they’ll lay it down in one big job. So for now the road surface looks a little rough but the finished pavement should look much better.

The other big news is the sidewalk on the east side of the street. They have made quick work of this, completely tearing out the old and laying down the new in only about 2 weeks. It’s not finished yet, there are still decorative bricks to install on some of the corners, and south of Ann the sidewalks themselves are still under construction. Only the curbs were in place to allow the asphalt to be laid down.

Sidewalks are still being constructed in front of the Children’s Museum.

The new pavement is in place even where the sidewalks are still dirt.

They are preserving the trees along this part of the street, even in the middle of all the construction. This is good to see. New trees and bushes are part of the plan for all the landscaping planters along the street, but it’s still good to see that they’re not tearing out tress that don’t need to be removed.

South of Robinson sidewalk construction has begun, but only on the west side of the street.

North of Robinson the sidewalks along the west side of the street are completely finished, though this corner at the State Museum is still roped off. It must still be curing.

The sidewalk bulges out at the State Museum as a way of integrating it with the public plaza that is already here.

Past the museum the sidewalks are open to foot traffic, with only a few cones here and there to remind you that this is still an active construction zone.

The landscaping will be one of the last things done in the project, but already the light poles have been installed along the finished part of the sidewalk.

There’s now 4 months until Nevada Day, but with how much they’ve managed to get done in the last 3 weeks I think they’re right on track to get everything finished on time!