Somerton Main Street redevelopment disrupts businesses during road closure

Somerton’s Main Street was closed from Somerton Avenue to just past City Hall as the city pushed ahead with the first phase of a nearly $3 million downtown redevelopment, forcing drivers onto detours and making some storefronts harder to reach.

The closure affects Highway 95, the main corridor between Yuma and San Luis, where sidewalk access to businesses was limited and traffic was being rerouted on both sides of the work zone. City officials have said the goal is to improve downtown accessibility and appearance, but the immediate effect is the kind of disruption that hits small businesses first: fewer casual stops, less visible storefronts and a downtown block that is harder to navigate on foot.

The first phase of the project was scheduled to begin the week of June 22 and was expected to take about four months. Planned improvements include upgraded sidewalks, an arched entry monument, new landscaping and added seating areas. Louie Galaviz, Somerton’s city manager, said the work had been in planning for about 10 years and was originally designed around 2016 after funding was secured.

That long timeline matters because the project is not a short-term repair but the start of a larger downtown overhaul. The city has framed the work as part of a broader effort to make Main Street more welcoming and support local growth, a message that has surfaced repeatedly in recent city discussions about economic development. In a June 24 KAWC program, Mayor Gerardo “Jerry” Anaya pointed to the downtown redevelopment alongside new businesses opening in Somerton.

City records show the redevelopment is also tied to a wider capital-improvement push. A Dec. 16, 2025 agenda item said the city was rebalancing its FY 2026 capital projects because of inflation, supply-chain delays and scheduling constraints, while keeping the total capital improvement budget at $14,608,125. Another council agenda from Aug. 5, 2025, linked the proposed sale of property at 851 W. Main Street to efforts to revitalize Main Street and support local business expansion.

For merchants along the corridor, the question is less about the eventual design than the months of lost convenience now. The city’s plan is to reshape downtown for the long term, but for businesses behind the barricades, the first phase has already changed how customers reach the heart of Somerton.