LLU Campuses Connect with Stewart Street

On Sept. 9, Loma Linda University’s north and south campuses became connected through the opening of Stewart Street. At approximately 3 p.m. Loma Linda Mayor Rhodes Rigsby and City Manager T. Jarb Thaipejr along with Loma Linda University's Rodney Neal (Senior VP for Financial Affairs) and Richard Hart, MD, DrPH (University President), gathered with a number of community members at the corner of Campus and Stewart streets to celebrate the project's completion. “It is setting the pace for the new unified campus of Loma Linda University where the students are the priority and they can walk one side to the other without jay walking,” Mayor Rigsby stated. “This whole project is about getting the street away from the students,” he said in regards to the walkway on top of the bridge, currently under construction. “The city is delighted to have participated and manage the construction, a little few hiccups here and there but it’s an overall extremely successful project,” he added. LLU President Hart mentioned, “The construction fences would soon be gone around this project as it fully opens up and becomes available to this campus. Stewart Street is now lowered and there is a bridge for pedestrians and students so they can get from the north to south end of the campus, making it very convenient. They had a hard time deciding the design on the walls on the bridge according Hart. They wanted it to be significant but not too detailed to distract drivers. Hart described the winning design for the bridge walls, “it symbolically really tells the story of Loma Linda… on one side is the Northern Hemisphere, on another side is the Southern Hemisphere and on the other side of the bridge, they flip, symbolizing our commitment to the entire world.” After a brief prayer and speeches, City and University officials cut the ribbon to the new Stewart Street. Immediately after, they participated in the inaugural ride in the fire trucks on the brand new street, making them officially the first ones to drive under the bridge. Everyone who attended were also able to walk under the bridge to the other side, probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.