Image Up Advertising & Design

8 BEAUMONT NOW | MARCH 2014 "We have come a long way from one stop light Many more projects are well within sight We will never stop improving until everything is just right!" Beaumont knows that the best way to stay ahead of growth is to build the roads before the new homes go up. With this pioneering approach, Beaumont in recent years has constructed more than 25 miles of new roadways that now crisscross our hometown. "Beaumont is that rare, growing community that has invested in infrastructure before population and economic growth overwhelm roads, parks and flood control facilities," said Research Economist John Husing. Husing has studied growth in the Inland Empire for nearly 50 years and regularly briefs business leaders and policymakers throughout California. BUIld NOw FOR THE FUTURE New residents, old timers and builders alike enjoy a ready-made community where roads make our lives easier and our community a more prosperous a place to live. Some longtime residents remember a time when traffic was light. Lyle Millage moved to the area 45 years ago when only about 6,000 people lived in town and yellow caution traffic lights dotted the main drag. Millage ran an equipment rental business at 6th Street and Michigan Avenue. Over the years, he's watched traffic improvements in Beaumont kept pace with growth. "Those street improvements were absolutely necessary," Millage says. "It would have been gridlock. No question about it." Today, Beaumont has a population of nearly 40,000, but traffic still flows with relative ease. Here are some examples of key Community Facilities Districts projects that have helped keep drivers moving along: • Extending Oak Valley Parkway (between Cherry and Highland Springs avenues) lets you zip across town without jumping on the freeway. • Building Potrero Boulevard and the Centennial Memorial Bridge paves the way for a regional bypass route to reduce traffic congestion. • Extending First Street (between Highland Springs and Hometown paves way to the future BEAUMONT NOW | MARCH 2014 9 Pennsylvania avenues) opened up a million square feet of shopping at the Second Street Market Place and created an alternate route when traffic backs up on Highway 79. • Building a new bridge over the wash in front of Beaumont High School helps keep students and motorists safe. • Extending Veile Avenue made it possible for trucks to stay out of an historic neighborhood located south of Interstate 10. • Extending and widening Oak Valley Parkway for four miles through San Timoteo Canyon came before thousands of new homes were built in Beaumont and Calimesa. PRogReSSiVe PRogRAM foR RoAdS, BRidgeS ANd MORE! Nearly a decade before the boom hit in 2000, Beaumont created the Community Facilities Districts (CFD) program to construct roads, bridges, water lines and parks. So far, this visionary approach has built $182 million in public improvements throughout the city. It's been done through using innovative financing that makes up the heart of the public improvements program. The CFD program allows property owners to be assessed for neighborhood improvements and their fair share of city-wide improvements. Some public facilities are maintained under the program. Money for the improvements comes through the sale of bonds and special taxes. Homeowners repay those bonds on their property tax bills along with the costs to maintain those improvements. lOOkINg AHEAd The legacy of our CFD program will be a long and proud. In the coming decade alone, we'll see many new improvements that will shape our destiny for years to come. When the Potrero Boulevard Bypass is finished, including a soaring interchange at Hwy. 60, about 2,000 acres will open up for development. Plans call for an open-air mall, new business park development, and thousands of good-paying jobs. It all points to the secret that Beaumont discovered years ago — that planning and building roads ahead of development made it possible for the community to pioneer its way to the future! Vintage photos courtesy Beaumont Library District. Photo of train under Centennial Bridge by Rodrigo Pena. Photo of Interstate 10 at Beaumont Ave. by Robert A. Whitehead.

• Cover