Mono Street in Downtown Fresno has been closed for two years. Photo by Donald A. Promnitz.

After being cut off from Downtown for two years, the City of Fresno is ready to reopen an entryway into Fresno’s Chinatown.

According to Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias (District 3), the Mono Street entrance to Chinatown is expected to open to the public on Oct. 31, a move they hope will restore a flow of traffic to the long-struggling district. Jan Minami, executive director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation, said that while the reopening has been a long time coming, it’s still only a small avenue by which customers can arrive, with Tulare Street in the heart of the district still closed off.

“Mono Street was a compromise because it’s easier to get done,” Minami said. “But Mono Street, while it does come into Chinatown, it doesn’t come into the middle of Chinatown where there is the most activity.”

However, while Tulare or Kern Street would be ideal places for the opening to happen, Minami clarified that it’s still a much-welcomed step in the right direction.

Access to Chinatown from the east side has been closed off since 2017 to accommodate construction for the high-speed rail, which has reportedly been a major source of devastation for the economy in neighborhood. Arias explained that he’s been working with High-Speed Rail Authority and other officials since taking office.

“They weren’t planning to open for another year,” Arias said in a September interview. “But they worked with us and came up to an agreement that they would reopen Mono Street by October.”

Other road work, such as the construction on G Street in Chinatown, remains in progress.