Pedestrian bridges above Tropicana on Strip to undergo $30M upgrade

The four pedestrian bridges soaring 17 feet above Tropicana Avenue and the Strip will undergo a lengthy $30 million upgrade beginning Sunday, the Nevada Transportation Department said Friday.

Drivers using the road below should also expect lane restrictions as the overnight construction work runs through Dec. 23, department officials said. Crews will work in the middle of the intersection, extending about 1,200 feet in both directions, from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday through Friday.

Plans call for replacing 16 escalators, installing new tempered-glass panes along each of the 165-foot-long walkways, providing new air-conditioning units inside the elevators and new lighted handrails, department spokesman Tony Illia said. The project should finish by mid-2018.

The bridges connect the MGM Grand, Tropicana, Excalibur and New York-New York hotel-casinos, accounting for a combined 15,000 hotel rooms, Illia said. About 130,000 pedestrians use the bridges daily.