Some $4 million in ARPA funding will help support projects already underway, including the reconstruction of residential streets and new traffic signals for nearby Susan B. Anthony Elementary School. Photo by Ben Hensley

The South Tower District area just north of Downtown Fresno will receive an additional $4 million in infrastructure dollars to improve the areas around Olive, Palm, Belmont and Weber avenues.

The additional funds will facilitate improvements of neighborhood roadways – many of which are over 100 years old – as well as sidewalk repairs and expansion, bike lanes, speed bumps, tree replacement, two new community parks and safe walking paths for children attending nearby John Muir Elementary School.

Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said that many of the neighborhood’s roads were initially paved with concrete that over the years has led to major cracks and potholes.

Additionally, the project will include funds for a new South Tower Park, named Broadway Parque.

“Our organization was birthed out of the organizing of Broadway Parque, so it’s ecstatic that it is going to be starting construction soon,” said Kiel Lopez-Schmidt, executive director of the South Tower Community Land Trust. “Oftentimes we had to lead the way and show what it could be and use our skills as neighbors and imagining our future together to convince them [City of Fresno] that it was possible.”

The design phase for San Pablo Park – the second of two parks planned in the improvement project – is approximately 60% completed.

The $4 million in additional funding for the expansion of the project was secured via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The additional dollars will be utilized in addition to the $30 million Tower infrastructure project currently underway.

 

“My top priority has been reinvesting and rebuilding our City’s existing forgotten and neglected neighborhoods,” Arias said in a news release Wednesday. “With the additional $4 million infrastructure work underway in South Tower, we have now invested a total of $34 million in Fresno’s Tower District.”

Additionally, the funding will support projects already underway, including the reconstruction of residential streets and new traffic signals for nearby Susan B. Anthony Elementary School.

In addition, nearby Ted T. Wills Green Space – once home to portable classrooms for Big Picture Educational Academy – will be reconstructed into neighborhood soccer fields.

Work on Harrison and Alhambra avenues is underway, with plans for continued work southward within the infrastructure improvement boundaries.

Arias requested South Tower residents to be patient as multiple construction phases will be occurring simultaneously in the area.

“Delivering on the promises made, soon one of Fresno’s oldest and historically rich neighborhoods will enjoy the much-needed improvements once completed,” Arias said.

The project is expected to take approximately one year to complete, with sidewalk and road repair taking place starting later this year.