Rehabilitation work begins on Ponce de León Avenue in Río Piedras
By THE STAR STAFF
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo announced on Sunday the start of construction work to revitalize Ponce de León Avenue in Río Piedras. The project represents a $14.1 million investment, with some 75% of the funding coming from the municipality’s general funds.
“Río Piedras is an area of immense historical, commercial, academic, and community value to San Juan. This project reflects our vision of restoring vitality to its public spaces and improving the experience for those who live, study, work in, and visit the area,” Romero Lugo stated in a written release. “We are not merely talking about repaving roads or repairing sidewalks; we are transforming an entire corridor to make it safer, more accessible, better connected, and more attractive for economic development. We are achieving this by responsibly allocating municipal resources to projects that have a direct and lasting impact on our people’s quality of life. …”
The project will address both the historic center of Río Piedras and the area facing the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras Campus. The work entails the complete rehabilitation of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, the removal of physical barriers to meet Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements, and improvements aimed at enhancing pedestrian mobility in the area.
As part of the redesign, the avenue will be reconfigured in strategic segments; this includes reducing the number of traffic lanes where necessary to improve safety and incorporating new green spaces. A protected bicycle lane will also be created, connecting to the lanes currently under construction on Gándara and Universidad Avenues, thereby expanding mobility options for cyclists.
The project includes a raised pedestrian crossing that will incorporate imagery representing the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras Campus. The work will also mark the entrance to Río Piedras from 65th Infantry Avenue with an entry monument. It will also extend the “Paseo de Diego”-style pedestrian corridor to connect the Tren Urbano station with existing plazas and other projects currently under development in the surrounding areas. Improvements include new public transit stops, access management, landscaping, street furniture, new lighting, Wi-Fi and security cameras.
The work is estimated to take 12 months to complete. Of the total investment of $14,102,367, some $10,570,367 comes from the municipality’s general funds, $3,025,750 from Community Development Block Grant funds, and $506,250 covers professional services related to the project’s design, oversight and inspection.
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