VANCOUVER, Wash. Main Street is officially open again, and the city celebrated with a block party near the historic Kiggins Theatre on the evening of Oct. 7, capping a $26 million reconstruction project that was decades in the making, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
The project broke ground in early December 2024 and rebuilt the stretch of Main Street between 5th and 15th streets. Crews replaced century-old utilities beneath the newly paved street and added traffic signals, outdoor seating, decorative overhead lighting and accessibility features such as curbless extended sidewalks, tactile guidance and audible crossings, according to OPB. Removable bollards along eight blocks allow the street to close to cars for pedestrian-only events.
Michael Walker, executive director of Vancouver's Downtown Association, told OPB the work finished about five months ahead of schedule, crediting contractors with finding quicker ways to work. He compared the redesigned street to pedestrian plazas in Europe and said the core goal was making Main Street safer, more accessible and better connected to the waterfront and the Esther Short Park area.
The city said minor work will continue through the Thanksgiving holiday, including the planting of more than 100 trees along the street. Funding came from the American Rescue Plan Act along with a mix of grants and other local sources, after roughly three years of public consultation, design and reconstruction.
The effort traces back to 1993, when the city planned a two-part improvement of the street but could only complete the Uptown Village portion because of financial constraints, OPB reported. A second attempt advanced to final design and extensive public outreach before the 2008 recession dried up funding.
Construction was hard on some businesses. Walker said the Downtown Association tracked about four closures during the work, while cautioning against blaming every closure on the project, and the city said 26 businesses opened or expanded on Main Street or within a block of the construction. Among the street's veterans is Joe Brown's Cafe, opened in 1932 as a Great Depression soup kitchen. Owner Karen Carlton told OPB her late husband Lewis, who died in January 2025, had supported the project and believed it would draw more people downtown.