BRAWLEY - Almost 2 decades after it was originally proposed, the City of Brawley held a ceremony for the completion of The Brawley Bypass on Thursday morning.
It is a project 19 years in the making. Thanks to the efforts of city officials, community leaders and many individuals statewide, the bypass is now complete.
The ribbon cutting was not your typical ribbon cutting as a convoy of big rigs did the cutting by driving through it. With the convoy moving through the ribbon and onto the highway, the Brawley Bypass was officially complete.
"It's a long time coming", says Brawley Mayor, George Nava. "This project's been going on for over two decades and so a lot of planning went into it. We're finally seeing the result of the final faze of the construction and so the City of Brawley is excited, we're excite to be here".
The ceremony included a few words from the many city officials and community leaders that were involved with the planning and development of the bypass highway.
Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty was one of those speakers.
"It's gonna take almost 3,000 trucks a day off the city streets of Brawley", says Dougherty. "It's gonna be important to the City of Brawley, it's gonna be important to the State of California and how we move goods back and forth through California, through the United States and Mexico".
The traffic in Downtown only grew when Superior Furniture store burnt down a month ago and the right lane had to be closed, as well as the closure of Eight Street 2 weeks later due to a fire in an abandoned Brawley bar.
No big rigs in Downtown Brawley means cars and pedestrians alike are in less danger of being involved in accidents.
"We're going to have the opportunity for much safer movements of pedestrians, passenger vehicles as well as bicyclists and other visitors to the area
The highway makes Police Chief Mark Gilmore's job a lot less stressful as public safety has always been priority for the city.
"We're going to be able to reduce pedestrian fatalities and accidents in our streets. We're gonna reduce the number of trucks coming through our Downtown which is gonna allow us to build our Downtown into a walk able district and something we can bring businesses in".
Safer and more convenient, not just for Brawley motorists, but for motorists across California.
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