Media Corner

Whittier Daily News, CA
November 19, 2009

City of Pico Rivera plans major street improvements for Beverly Boulevard

By Bethania Palma Markus, Staff Writer

The City of Pico Rivera is planning on revamping Beverly Blvd., shown here Nov. 19, 2009, with new landscaped medians, asphalt and new traffic lights including here at Durfee and Beverly. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Eric Reed)

PICO RIVERA - Beverly Boulevard will be getting a major face-lift in coming months.

City staffers are working on plans for upgrading the major thoroughfare, which will include repaving, landscaped medians and safety features like a new traffic signal, officials said.

The project will follow on the heels of Central Basin Municipal Water District's laying of a reclaimed water pipe under the street, slated to begin in January, officials said.

"It's a combination border-to-border beautification project and infrastructure improvement, starting with our partnership with Central Basin," said City Manager Chuck Fuentes.

The city's project will include a new traffic signal and street improvements at the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Durfee Avenue along with repaving Beverly with an asphalt-rubber material, which will largely be funded with federal stimulus money, officials said.

The landscaped medians will cost more than $1 million and be paid mostly from the city's general fund, officials said.

The medians are currently being designed and will be brought before the City Council for approval in January, Fuentes said.

"We get to come in behind (Central Basin's project) and put in the median, and when it's all said and done we'll button it up with a brand new street," said Al Cablay, public works director.

While the project is under way Beverly Boulevard will be congested, but not completely closed, officials said.

"We're going to get traffic through but it will be congested," Cablay said.

Director of Public Works, Al Cablay walks a median next to Pico Park that will be rebuilt with a new traffic light. The City of Pico Rivera is planning on revamping Beverly Blvd. with new landscaped medians, asphalt and new traffic lights Nov. 19, 2009. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Eric Reed)

But the outcome will be better traffic flow and improved, durable asphalt, he said. The pipe laying and street improvements are expected to be complete in about 15 months from January.

Central Basin's recycled water line under Beverly Boulevard is part of the regional Southeast Water Reliability Project, said Valerie Howard, spokeswoman for Central Basin. Together with a reclaimed water pipe running along Mines Avenue, about 325 million gallons of potable water will be saved annually.