Walkers and runners in Southwest Fresno will have a safer place to get around in the coming years, after a new trail and a safe streets project broke ground Monday.
The new trail will be named after Rashad Al-Hakim Jr., a 15-year-old hit-and-run victim who was killed in 2022 while crossing the street near Hoover High School.
During a news conference, Mayor Jerry Dyer presented two projects: the southwest Fresno trail, a 0.8 mile-long trail, and the MLK Center Active Transportation Infrastructure project, which will bring safety improvements to Walnut, Jensen, and Church Avenues and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Joining Mayor Dyer was Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, Fresno County Supervisor Brian Pacheco, Public Works Director Scott Mozier, General Manager of the Fresno Irrigation District Bill Stretch and Carole Goldsmith, chancellor for the State Center Community College District.
“These upgrades are long overdue, and more than just construction projects, they are investments in safety, mobility and the future of the residents of southwest Fresno,” Dyer said.
The new trail will follow Fanning Ditch, connecting from Florence Avenue to the corner of Thorne Avenue near Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The asphalt trail is being constructed with walkers, runners and cyclists in mind, and will include ADA compliant curb ramps, new street lights and trail lighting and the planting of 102 trees. It’s the first trail to be built in southwest Fresno, according to the city’s Active Transportation Plan.
Ragina Bell, the mother of Al-Hakim Jr., spoke during the conference and said that the city council reached out to her to name the trail after her son. Al-Hakim Jr. was a Hoover High School student who was struck and killed by Lisa Spoors, a Fresno State graduate student. Spoors was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.
Bell explained that a mural of her son was painted over and a memorial across the street from his school was destroyed for unknown reasons.
“This is something that can’t be erased; it’s permanent, it’s a part of Fresno and he is a part of Fresno, and this is something that no one can cover up, no one can destroy or damage,” Bell said.
Councilmember Arias said that the city council plans to take action in March to rename the trail after Al-Hakim Jr.
According to Dyer, the trail will cost $4.1 million and is fully funded by the state’s Transformative Climate Communities Program.
The second project will bring bike lanes, road widenings, new sidewalks that are ADA compliant, street lights, upgrades to traffic signals and pavement reconstruction near the new Fresno City College, West Fresno campus.
Split into two phases, phase one will focus on streets north of Jensen Avenue and between Knight Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The second phase, slated for 2026, will focus on areas south of Church Avenue between Walnut Avenue and MLK Jr. Boulevard.
In total, the MLK Center Active Transportation Infrastructure project will cost $6.9 million according to Dyer, who explained funding came from California’s SB 1 funding and the Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program.
Public Works Director Mozier also added that the infrastructure project includes $622,000 Measure C funds and $2.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. General manager Stretch also added that the irrigation district contributed to the trail project’s canal piping, saying the district contributed 50% for the piping project.
Notably, the trail project featured a collaboration between the city and the county.
Supervisor Pacheco explained that in trying to find funding for the underground electrical aspect of the infrastructure project, the county agreed to help the city by reallocating unused funding from the California Public Utilities Commission.
“The county will step forward and allocate its previously unallocated funds for the benefit of the people of the southwest Fresno community,” Pacheco said, adding, “this project is important to the economic and the educational future of this community, and therefore it’s important to me and the county.”
