Strip pedestrian bridges set to temporarily close for Tropicana demolition

As the Tropicana demolition forges ahead, pedestrian bridge access points at the shuttered resort will soon temporarily close to the public.

The east and south bridges at Tropicana Avenue that provide access to the Tropicana property from the Excalibur and MGM Grand are expected to close due to the demolition of the Rat Pack-era property and the construction activity associated with the new Oakland Athletics stadium planned to be built at the site, according to Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling.

The sidewalks along Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana adjacent to the construction site will also close.

“Our Public Works Department approved a request for the closures by the project contractor to protect pedestrian safety while construction activity is under way,” Welling said Wednesday in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The bridges will reopen at a future date when construction activities allow.”

An exact timeline of when the bridge access points and sidewalks will close was not yet available.

A pair of fence permits to barricade the bridges have been filed and are pending with the county’s building department, Welling said. Upon approval, the building permits are valid for 180 days, with both listed to have contract values of $25,000 each.

GGG Demolition Inc., contracted by Bally’s Corp., is in the process of gutting the Tropicana hotel towers, before they are planned to be brought down in October via implosion. The site will be cleared from there, ahead of the A’s plans to start construction in April on their $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat ballpark.

The stadium will be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana site. Bally’s Corp. plans to build a future resort on the remaining acreage.

The A’s need to have three of four needed documents approved by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority to open up the $380 million earmarked by Senate Bill 1. The community benefits agreement has already been approved, with the lease and nonrelocation agreements already presented and are awaiting approval.

The development agreement, which will lay out the A’s planned funding and construction timeline of the ballpark, still needs to be introduced. The next meeting the highly-anticipated agreement could be presented is at the July 18 stadium authority meeting.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.