Balloons floated in the sky and sheriffs and their horses marched down the street as city officials and residents gathered on May 10 to celebrate the completion of the Rosemead Boulevard Safety Enhancements and Beautification Project.
After the city council’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches from Mayor Carl Blum, Congresswoman Judy Chu and Assemblyman Ed Chau, as well as contractors and state officials, cyclists took to the road on an inaugural ride to celebrate the expanded bike lanes.
The project, which began construction last winter and took $20.7 million to complete, renovated the sidewalks and bike lanes and added public art installations and 450 trees along a two-mile stretch of Rosemead Boulevard. In addition, the city council repaved the road with rubberized asphalt, a mixture which contains 16,000 ground-up tires.
“The thing that’s coming in the future is a smart street, a complete street, where cars, bikes, pedestrians and transit all have equal access to the street,” Mayor Blum said. “This was one of the basic concepts that we had in mind. We also wanted to address air quality, so now that we have sidewalks and bike lanes, you can get where you want without hopping into your car to do it.”
The Temple City Youth Committee helped organize the event, holding a scavenger hunt where residents could complete challenges at various checkpoints to win raffle tickets. Volunteers carried around boards with questions that people could answer for prizes and passed out bags containing magnets, water bottles and flyers.
“This event is here to highlight what we’ve been doing for the city,” Temple City Youth Committee member Sophomore Amber Lee said. “We spent millions of dollars on this project, and we’re proud to show what we’ve done with it.”