Mound Avenue Gets a Makeover Near City Hall

A stretch of Mound, one of South Pasadena’s oldest streets between City Hall and the public parking lot beyond, is getting a maintenance makeover.

“The street was all cracked and the pavement was uneven,” said South Pasadena Public Works Director Paul Toor. “So we’re rehabbing the street by reconstructing the curb, gutter, sidewalk, driveway—just to make sure it’s pedestrian-safe and safe to drive.”

The asphalt was so cracked that working crews ground it up, mixed some oil in and recycled it, Toor said, adding that “a gold-plated version of this, where you can reconstruct the whole street from scratch, would cost at least double.”

A few inches of new asphalt will be added to the old one to pave the street and make it smooth. Work on the street, between Hope and Mission, began nearly 10 days ago and is expected to last another couple of weeks.

Typically, rehab projects such as the one on Mound are good for at least 10 years, Toor said, adding that the maintenance work is the second phase of a larger project encompassing a total of five locations.

During the summer break for South Pasadena schools, Public Works repaved a stretch of Rollin Street between Fair Oaks and Diamond, next to the high school. “We wanted to finish that street before the school opened,” Toor said, adding that the most recently repaved street was East Moffatt, on the south side of Pasadena near Elephant Hill in Los Angeles.

Waiting to be worked on is a portion of Mission east of Fair Oaks, and Park Avenue south of Hope.

All streets, particularly older ones, need to be regularly maintained. “But what’s happening is that because of limited revenues work is falling behind schedule everywhere, not just in South Pasadena,” Toor said.