Pasadena : Street Work Finished

One of the greatest nuisances in memory for some local merchants has at last been erased. Work crews have finished the second phase of the reconstruction of Colorado Boulevard, removing barriers that for 6 months had disrupted traffic through the heart of the city.

Merchants, whose businesses suffered because customers had difficulty reaching them during the construction, celebrated the completion of the job with a festive parade of vintage automobiles last week. The job, which has given Colorado Boulevard a reconstructed surface between Catalina and Los Robles avenues, cost about $2.5 million in federal and city funds.

The next phase, which is to begin next June, will attack the boulevard between Orange Grove Boulevard and the city’s boundary with Los Angeles. The final phase, which will complete the total reconstruction of Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, probably will be begun sometime in 1990, city officials say. “The key thing,” said John Cafarella, a city engineer, “is to have the work done in advance of the Christmas shopping period and not to interfere with the Rose Parade.”