Rio Mesa High School celebrates new sidewalk in Oxnard

Rio Mesa High School celebrates the official ribbon cutting of the new sidewalk in El Rio on Thursday morning.

The Spartan Marching Band and students came out to celebrate the finished project.

This sidewalk will allow safer conditions for students and others to walk to and from school.

The sidewalk is located near Strickland Acres and along Central Avenue. The ceremony happened on the front lawn of the high school with a performance by the Spartan Marching Band.

Supervisor John Zaragoza, David Fleisch, the Ventura County Public Works Agency’s Director of Transportation and Principal Mark Contreras gave speeches about the sidewalk improvements.

Contreras said, “It all begins with safety. Learning begins with a safe climate and a safe environment, so this sidewalk provides a great element to that.”

He also adds that they’re already seeing better traffic and safety for the students at Rio Mesa.

The 8-foot-wide sidewalk was part of the Safe Schools sidewalk project that was design and overseen by the Ventura County Public Works Agency’s Transportation Department.

The agency aimed to help improve the safety of students and faculty as Rio Mesa High School. The project was funded by the federal government along with local tax on August 29.

Granite Construction was the contractor for this project.