I-11 anniversary: “Tumbleweed town” fears turn to success stories

In the summer of 2018, Interstate 11 opened to the public with lingering questions and concerns as to how having thousands of vehicles each day going around — rather than through — Boulder City would impact local businesses.

Now, five years later, the reality is that, while the 15-mile stretch of roadway bypasses the city, most businesses have not only held steady, but thrived since its opening.

Jill Lagan, president and CEO of the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, reported that during the planning and construction phase, then-Mayor Roger Tobler was hearing from residents that they were tired of the traffic through town. Lagan, on the other hand, was hearing from business owners who were afraid that once the bypass was complete, Boulder City would turn into a “tumbleweed town.”

“When you’re constantly telling someone to ‘take the bypass’ it just makes it seem as though Boulder City is worth bypassing and I don’t believe that’s the truth,” she said.

Even though I-11 has seen a happy ending now, Lagan said there was plenty of concern from those she was hearing from. Those concerns included her own.

“I have since taken my words back, and I’m the first to admit that I was wrong,” she said. “I was very concerned, like most others, that it was going to be very hard to have a business in Boulder City. I had made the statement that the day I-11 opened I would be retiring because it would be way too hard to help these businesses. I did not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Shame on me for not having enough faith in what we had done, faith in the businesses to pull together as well as faith in residents to shop local. I absolutely eat my words now and am happy to do so.”

Lagan said leading up to the opening of the interstate, she had done a lot of research regarding communities with bypasses and what she found was grim. But since its opening, she has had a pair of communities reach out to her to see how it was done here successfully.

“It really is more of a success story than a loss,” she said. “It took us about a year to again find that balance but it’s exciting to have people calling us to hear what we did right.”

Lagan had hoped that, whether it came from the state or federal level, there be compensation in the amount of $100,000 a year, which would allow Boulder City to be marketed, specifically in the Las Vegas area, to help get people to town. That didn’t happen. However, thanks to regional funding in the form of $50,000 each from both the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the chamber was able to create the campaign, “Boulder City: A World Away for a Day.”

Within three months of the I-11 opening, Lagan said businesses had already seen an uptick in visitors from the Vegas Valley coming to town to shop and dine. These are people who enjoyed Boulder City for its restaurants, shops and special events but avoided it on the weekends when traffic was backed up for as far as the eye could see.

“We found that Boulder City had truly become a destination,” she said.

Former mayor’s take

At the time of the I-11 opening, Rod Woodbury was mayor of Boulder City. He said he tried to acknowledge concerns from residents without becoming an alarmist.

“Even though the I-11 project wasn’t my brainchild, I truly believed that it was necessary and would benefit Boulder City in the long run,” he said. “I tried to allay what I perceived were mostly unfounded fears. I also worked hard to explain that most of Boulder City’s businesses, like our restaurants, were attractive destination stops that people already went out of their way to patronize. And, so, I assured them that customers would continue to seek them out even after completion of the bypass.”

Woodbury said he acknowledged that pass-through service businesses like gas stations might suffer more. But he also emphasized that drivers caught in traffic jams are far less likely to stop at businesses, because they’re generally in too much of a hurry to get home and too frustrated to bother with it.

“On the other hand, happy drivers at leisure to enjoy themselves are much more likely to come spend their time and money at their favorite Boulder City destinations,” he said.

Now, looking back five years later, Woodbury added, “Fortunately, we knew almost immediately that the negatives generally weren’t as bad as some imagined they would be,” he said.

“In the ensuing months after I-11 opened, a few businesses said that I-11 impacted their bottom line negatively by as much as 10%. But most reported that their numbers were up by as much as 15% or more. Some even said their sales had doubled due to reduced traffic congestion and easier navigation.”

Business owners look back

Joe DeSimone, who’s owned Railroad Pass Casino since 2014, said I-11 was not yet under construction when he bought the casino.

“I looked at details for the plans for I-11 and made the decision to buy because I knew I eventually wanted to build a travel center here,” he said. “I knew the I-11 would increase truck traffic, which has definitely been the case without hurting the customer experience in Boulder City.”

He said when the I-11 was being built, there were some difficult times in terms of access into and out of the casino property for patrons and employees.

“My biggest fear was running out of money,” he said. “During construction there was very limited access to the casino. It was a struggle for our employees and customers. Personally, it was a struggle but I always had faith that the outcome would be best for the long term.”

When the interstate was completed, DeSimone said the Nevada Department of Transportation abandoned its right of way, enabling Railroad Pass to gain an additional 15 acres of land, which was used for the travel center.

“The first day the travel center was open, about halfway through the day we had sold around $300 worth of fuel,” DeSimone said. “That scared me to death because we spent about $12 million on the project. By comparison, May of this year we sold over one million gallons combined between diesel and car fuel. Obviously, it (opening the travel center) was a risk worth taking.”

In terms of what he’s seen and heard of how I-11 has impacted Boulder City businesses, positively or negatively, he said, “The unintended consequence of a bypass is that you get bypassed. But thankfully, I don’t think businesses suffered nearly as much as it could have. Those business are still thriving, I hope. The majority of our customers are still coming from Boulder City. I think it was a fear of the unknown.”

Like DeSimone, Chilly Jillyz owner Jill Bunch had her concerns but is now pleased with the outcome.

“We didn’t have as much business on heavy traffic days to and from Vegas,” she said. “The cluster of traffic prevented locals, from both directions, to access the restaurant during those peak rush hours.”

Not all businesses had the same fears before the interstate was open.

“Our concerns were different due to the location of our business,” Bunch said. “At the time, the rest of the town felt doomed and gloomy, with fears of becoming extinct.”

And now?

“We are very pleased with the beautification,” she said. “It has really improved the appearance of our town’s entrance. Our business is thriving and we are appreciative for the opportunity to serve this community.”

Ron Eland is editor of the Boulder City Review. He can be reached at reland@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523.