Pasadena to Tear Out, Replace 75,000 Square Feet of Sidewalk in Citywide Accessibility Push

Pasadena’s Public Works Department will begin ripping out and replacing damaged sidewalks at roughly 600 locations across the city on Monday, a project that is expected to put new concrete under the feet of pedestrians in every corner of the city by midsummer.

The work covers about 75,000 square feet of sidewalk — the equivalent of nearly two football fields — along with curb and gutter repairs to improve stormwater drainage, according to a city press release issued Tuesday.

It is the latest phase of an annual program launched after a 2015 inventory identified more than 18,000 sidewalk locations needing repair citywide. The $1 million contract with CJ Concrete Construction, Inc. is one of two sidewalk contracts the City Council approved on November 24.

A separate $500,000 contract with Addison-Miller Inc., funded by a federal Community Development Block Grant, covers an additional 206 locations in CDBG-eligible areas. Together, the two contracts address 667 repair sites.

The general-funded project targets priority locations identified through ongoing maintenance and accessibility reviews, the press release states. Sidewalk repairs are prioritized using criteria developed by the city’s Accessibility and Disability Commission, which weighs vertical displacement, pedestrian volume, traffic intensity, and resident complaints about ADA access, according to city documents.

Since the program began, Pasadena has invested $11.5 million and replaced nearly 900,000 square feet of damaged sidewalk, according to a City Council agenda report. But the scope of what remains is substantial. The five-year sidewalk improvement program carries a total estimated cost of $12.1 million, of which $10.6 million is unfunded, according to a Transportation Advisory Commission budget presentation.

CJ Concrete Construction, a Santa Fe Springs firm that has completed six similar Pasadena sidewalk projects totaling $8.5 million in recent years, submitted the winning bid at $744,500 — 29 percent below the city engineer’s estimate, according to the agenda report. That allowed staff to recommend a larger-than-usual contingency of $255,500 to maximize the amount of work completed while prices remain favorable.

Construction is scheduled to begin Monday, April 13, and is expected to be completed by July 2026, according to the press release. Curb and gutter work will accompany the sidewalk replacement where needed.

Residents with questions can contact the Pasadena City Service Center at (626) 744-7311, Monday through Friday during business hours.

The city receives an average of 500 sidewalk repair requests from residents each year, according to Public Works records.