Forty years after the city kicked cars off K Street, crews are busy this week paving the way for their return.

The $3 million, four-block street remake downtown started two weeks ago and is expected to be done by mid-November. Officials said the goal is to get more eyes and energy on the street to improve business.

"People don't even know what businesses are along K Street," city Downtown Development Manager Leslie Fritzsche said when the project was announced.

Although some new restaurants and nightspots have opened on the K Street Mall in the last few years, many storefronts remain vacant. Officials are trying to reverse that trend, just as they were in 1969 when they turned the street into a pedestrian mall in hopes of attracting shoppers from the suburbs.

K Street will not become the central thoroughfare it once was, officials said. Vehicles will be allowed only between Eighth and 12th streets. The 700 and 1200 blocks are too crowded to allow cars, officials said. Eleventh Street also will remain a pedestrian walkway from K to L streets.

The new stretch of street will have one lane in each direction. There will be no parking, although each block will have a turnout area for drivers to drop off and pick up passengers.

The speed limit will be in the 20-mph range, said project manager Nader Kamal. Cars will mix on some blocks with light-rail trains that run at about 15 to 20 miles per hour.

"Drivers will have to be patient," Kamal said.

Sidewalk areas will be wide. But city officials say pedestrians will no longer be allowed to cross the street midblock.

"We want them to get into the habit of crossing at intersections only," Kamal said.

Several downtown workers who have seen the street devolve into a no man's land said they hope cars will help bring some life back.

"If it can boost business, that will be good thing," said Janis Rawlins. But, she said, "the lack of parking could be an issue."

Veni Sharma of the DeRow & Sharma clothing store and tailor said he thinks the change will mean more business for him. Some customers already come in, he said, because they see his store while passing by on light rail.

"It's about time they brought cars back," he said. "We'll find out in six months or so" if it makes a difference.

The new street will not have curbs and gutters, officials said. Instead, planter curbs are being built around trees to separate sidewalk from street. Seventeen benches and other street "furniture" also will be added to form a barrier, Kamal said.

That design will help keep the price down. Engineers, however, determined the pavers on several sections of the street aren't strong enough to support cars. Those are being replaced with stamped concrete.

On Tuesday, crews were busy pulling out the pavers. Every 15 minutes, a lookout blew an air horn, alerting workers to step aside while a light-rail train passed.

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