Water Main Work Shifts to Raymond Avenue With Lane Closures Next Week

Drivers on Raymond Avenue will meet partial lane closures next week as Pasadena Water and Power moves its Fillmore Street water main replacement into its final phase.

Phase 3 brings daytime construction from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the intersection of Raymond Avenue and Fillmore Street. At least one lane in each direction will stay open. The phase covers water pressure testing, water quality sampling and work on water service laterals, according to the City of Pasadena. David M. Reyes, general manager of water and power, announced the schedule.

The phase and the project overall are scheduled to finish by the end of August, according to the City of Pasadena, moved up from the mid-September completion the utility projected in July.

Crews began installing the new 8-inch main between Fair Oaks Avenue and Raymond Avenue last month. The city said the new pipeline will “reinforce the continued reliability of water service to the area.”

The heaviest disruption has already passed. Overnight work ran from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. between Monday, July 20, and Friday, July 24, closing the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Fillmore Street entirely and routing detours through Bellefontaine Street and Raymond Avenue. Daytime work resumed July 27.

The replacement is one of a series in that quadrant of the city, where much of the distribution network dates to the early 20th century. Two Fair Oaks Avenue mains that had been in service more than 90 years were replaced between March 2024 and March 2025 along a stretch from Washington Boulevard to Montana Street. On Raymond Avenue, crews moved customer service lines off a 1913 riveted steel main onto ductile iron installed in 1991. A 100-year-old main under Glenarm Street between Arroyo Parkway and El Molino Avenue came out beginning in June 2024, and the utility has replaced roughly 1,400 feet of 10-inch cast iron pipe more than a century old.

That work runs through the Water System project in the city’s Capital Improvement Program, which identifies mainlines for design and replacement and prioritizes gate valve replacements to support uni-directional flushing. Program documents tie it to the General Plan’s Public Facilities Element, which calls for “a high level of maintenance for existing facilities.” Bellefontaine Street, Fair Oaks Avenue and Glenarm Street were among the segments programmed for Fiscal Year 2025.

The utility limits construction to roughly one block at a time on projects of this kind and gives at least 48 hours’ notice before any water interruption.

Questions about the Fillmore Street work go to Norman Lara at (626) 744-7607 or NLara@CityOfPasadena.net. Project details are posted at https://pwp.cityofpasadena.net/fillmore-street-water-main-replacement/. Water emergencies are reported at (626) 744-4138.