All summer they have been working on building new sidewalks in downtown Carson and narrowing the street. Most of this work has been done while the street was still open to traffic, but there have been a couple of notable exceptions. When they repaved the sections from William to Robinson, and Robinson to Musser, the street was closed for around 2 days each time so they could bring in the asphalt machines and lay down the pavement. This week, though, the week after Labor Day, they have closed the street for four full days. It’s time to pave the street between Musser and Fifth, and apparently it’s a much bigger job than the other sections.

The road has been shut down all the way from Robinson to Fifth so they could do this, and it seems to be involving a lot more earth moving than the other sections of the street did. They are doing a lot of grading, moving and hauling away dirt. On Wednesday crews were busy at work on nearly the entire stretch, with lots of heavy equipment disturbing the dirt.

The sidewalks on the east side of the street haven’t even been started on this part of the road. If they do it like they did the others, they will pour the curbs and put pavement up to them, and then do the rest of the work of building the sidewalks on this side after the road has reopened to traffic.

I don’t even see them beginning to work on the curbs on this side of the road, though. They are still grading the dirt away to the correct elevation.

Fire hydrants are being installed, connecting to the new water lines that were installed earlier this spring.

On the west side of the street, sidewalk construction is well underway. Here at Fifth Street they are just beginning to pour the curbs, but as you go north they are more finished.

This tree at Fourth Street is staying put and the sidewalk is being poured around it.

In front of the St. Charles Hotel the sidewalks are already done.

They have done a terraced effect here, with stamped concrete simulating a wooden boardwalk next to the building, and then a couple of steps down to more traditional sidewalk out by the street.

Sidewalks north of Third are all done.

The Kit Carson medallions have been placed back in the new concrete.

Between Musser and Second large swaths of landscaping will be added, narrowing the sidewalks but creating more of a park-like atmosphere to match the Capitol grounds across the street.

The same decorative bulge that is found in front of the State Museum can be found here across from the Capitol.

Parts of the side streets are being torn out and repaved too.

The finished sidewalks north of Musser look much like the other sidewalks we’ve look at previously.

Bike racks have been installed along the sidewalk.

The pull-in parking areas can be found through much of downtown now, though they have scaled it back to far fewer spots than they were talking about a few years ago.

Here in front of Carson Jewelry and Loan they have put in some really nice brickwork. Nowhere else downtown can anything this intricate be found. Businesses downtown are remaining open even with the street closed.

The bulb-outs at Telegraph are finished and looking good.

The Horseshoe Club needs a new owner and a major facelift, but the sidewalk looks nice.

Some of the brickwork on the east side sidewalks are not finished, but that’s just another symptom of the east side sidewalks lagging behind the corresponding sidewalks on the west side.

The tilework in front of the Sweetland Building was preserved when the new sidewalk was put in.

In front of City Hall the concrete looks pretty fresh. I would say this had been poured in the last 24 hours.

By the end of the week this is supposed to be a paved street, open to traffic once more. Looks like they have a lot of work to go before they can get there! But they do seem to be on track to have the bulk of the work done by Nevada Day. As summer turns to fall we’ll continue to keep an eye on the progress.