Supervisor Perez Dedicates Funding to Complete Sidewalks for Carver Tract
Tue, 11/07/2023 - 05:00
RIVERSIDE – The unincorporated community of Carver Tract, a “county island” between the cities of Indio and Coachella, will have sidewalks throughout the entire 200-home neighborhood in about one year with today’s approval of funding to finish all the community’s sidewalks.
Supervisor V. Manuel Perez brought an item before the Riverside County Board of Supervisors today that allocates $3.5 million from the Fourth District’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to be used for construction of the remaining sidewalks. The funding item passed 4-0.
Carver Tract had lacked sidewalks ever since its development in the years right after World War II.
Last fall, the first phase in a county transportation project to add sidewalks in Carver Tract was completed, adding the first sidewalks ever in the community’s history. The county already lined up funding for phase two of the sidewalks but funding for the third and final phase was still years out. With this funding, Riverside County can now build phase two and phase three together to complete all the sidewalks and drainage improvements.
The $3.5 million ARPA allocation will accelerate Supervisor Perez’s goal of getting all the sidewalks built for the residents and community of Carver Tract.
“Carver Tract is an area that’s been unincorporated forever, an area that’s been neglected for a very long time,” said Supervisor Perez. “It’s not in the City of Coachella, it’s not in the City of Indio. Unfortunately, the youth and the families there have never had sidewalks or any lighting and we’re finally, through ARPA money, able to use that money for the right reasons to improve the quality of life for these individuals that deserve it, that deserved it, for generations. These are folks that are farmworkers, these are folks that are service workers, these are folks who deserve a better place to live and I think that’s our responsibility.”
The Riverside County Transportation Department is currently in the final design stage for the Carver Tract Sidewalk Safety Improvement Project Phase 2 and 3, which will be done as a single combined project now. Construction is expected to start in spring 2024.
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Supervisor V. Manuel Perez represents the Fourth Supervisorial District on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The largest district in the county by geography, the 4th District covers eastern Riverside County, from Whitewater, stretching across the entire Coachella Valley south to the Salton Sea, up Highway 74 to Idyllwild and the mountain communities, and heading east of the Coachella Valley to Blythe and the Colorado River.
Supervisor Perez’s office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
