That notion got shot down in April 1997, when the Clark County Commission voted unanimously to scrap the idea. The tunnels were proposed by the casinos at "Four Corners." At that time, they were all under different ownership: ITT Sheraton (Caesars Palace), Coast Casinos (Barbary Coast), Hilton Gaming (Bally’s Las Vegas) and Mirage Resorts (the in-progress Bellagio). ITT and Hilton got into an unrelated feud with Steve Wynn, and left the tunnel project in a huff.
Tunnels would have cost $28.5 million at the time, as opposed to $17.6 million for bridges, so it was a no-brainer for Clark County. Then-chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates told the casinos they were welcome to resubmit a tunnel project if they could make nice with each other. Fourteen years later, even with three-fourths of Four Corners owned by one company (Caesars Entertainment), the notion of pedestrian tunnels is long forgotten. The bridges seem to be working well enough and that seems to suit pedestrians, casino owners and politicians just fine.
