Pico Rivera's North End Lost Its Crossings This Fall. Here's How Weekends Reroute Through 2033.

In late August, the Walk the Dam tour began at the Pico Rivera Golf Club. It followed the San Gabriel River Trail for about a mile and finished on top of the dam's concrete spillway over the river. Seven information stations lined the route, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened parts of the dam that the public normally can't visit, including the spillway gates. The Whittier Daily News covered the walk on August 29, and the city counted more than 200 people who came out on foot, by bike and on horseback.

That walk now works as a map of what's closing. The golf club where it started has closed for good. The trail segments it used to reach the dam are now inside the construction zone of the $735 million Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Project, which the Corps expects to finish in 2033.

The closures sit along one strip of land, the dam and the ground right beside it. Most of the places people use on Pico Rivera's north end are still there, but the trail links, the road over the dam and the parks next to it are gone for now. Until construction wraps up, getting anywhere up there takes longer, and the city's recreation calendar is moving south.

Everything on the closed list touches the dam

The Corps' construction brochure lists the closures in one place. Here they are, with the city's notes added:

The golf course story has the longest history. The course ran for 61 years on land the Corps owns and leased to the city for recreation, and the final tee-off was Saturday, September 19. The City of Pico Rivera's closure notice says the city may be able to lease whatever land is left once construction ends in 2033. New federal regulations will block a replacement golf course, and city officials haven't settled on a future use.

Streamland Park's loss lands on families. Pico Boys Baseball League played its 70th season at Streamland this year, and it was the league's last one there. The city says it's working with the league on other fields for the 2027 season and beyond. Its latest notice doesn't name a new home yet.

For golfers, the closest public option on the county's list is the Whittier Narrows Golf Course at 8640 Rush Street. LA County Parks runs it and books tee times online.

The trail gap is short, but the detour is long

A small closure can still mean a big detour, because of where the gap is. Streetsblog LA reported that the closed stretches of the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo paths are "relatively short in distance." Detouring gets complicated because the connector paths between the two trails are closed too. The dam is where the two river corridors meet. Without the crossing, a rider can't swap from one trail to the other there, and each trail has to be detoured on surface streets.

The Corps' trail-closure fact sheet says trail segments outside the active construction area should stay open. It sends users to the project website for updated maps and routes. When Streetsblog asked LA County Public Works about detour plans, it got no response before its September 3 story ran, so it suggested southbound workarounds of its own, describing them as possible routes to "be approached carefully" and not as official detours.

1. Rio Hondo path: Leave the trail for Lincoln Avenue, which runs roughly parallel to it. Turn left at Rea Drive and cut through Rea Park to get back on the path. Lincoln is narrow already, and it's one of the streets with partial closures, so expect to go slowly.
2. San Gabriel River path: Get off well before the closure at Peck Road, which becomes Workman Mill Road heading south. Workman Mill has no bike lanes, but it's fairly wide and has decent sidewalks. Turn right on Rose Hills Road and watch for active freight crossings. Then turn left on San Gabriel River Parkway, which has a bike lane but a rough first stretch. Rejoin the trail on the south side of that street.

Both routes go well out of the way and add busy streets to rides that used to stay on the riverbank the whole time. The Corps also lists an email address, [email protected], for questions and concerns. That's the most direct way to ask whether an official detour has been posted.

Rooks Road and the Sports Arena

The road closure matters most on event nights. The Corps' brochure lists a permanent closure of the stretch of Sports Arena Drive, or Rooks Road, that crosses the dam. Streetsblog described it more broadly. It reported that Rooks Road would be fully closed from Sports Arena Drive southbound for the project's duration, and Sports Arena Drive would close as well. The Whittier Daily News put it more simply: construction will "limit access to the storied Pico Rivera Sports Arena."

The arena's calendar is still running. Two events land in the next month:

• Halloween Picolandia 2026, Saturday, October 31, doors at 6 p.m. The arena's listing shows a span starting the evening of October 30, so check the event page for the exact night before you buy tickets.
• 90's Corridos Tour, Sunday, November 22, listed from 4 to 11 p.m., with doors at 2 p.m. according to the event details.

Both event pages list parking and a disabled-access zone among their services. With the dam crossing gone, plan your approach before you leave home. Expect flaggers, signs and reduced speed zones nearby, which the city says will come with construction.

Living next to years of work

The city's guidance is plain. Expect construction vehicles, equipment noise, dust and traffic control around the project area. Temporary noise barriers will go up in select spots to reduce the impact on nearby blocks. The active construction zone stays closed to the public for the whole project. The dam stays fully operational the entire time.

The Corps' own documents give different timelines. Its project homepage says significant construction will take about five years. Its trail-closure fact sheet lists a construction window running from late 2026 to 2033, and that's also the completion year the city uses. City officials have said they will keep reaching out to residents about what can happen on the Streamland and golf course land once construction ends.

Fall moves south to Pico Park and Smith Park

The north end loses ground through 2033, and the city's newest recreation spending is going in elsewhere. At Smith Park, crews broke ground July 8 on a $39.4 million aquatic and community center. It will have competition and recreational pools and is expected to open in summer 2028. The Smith Park Community Center is closed during construction. Its programs have moved, and staff are working out of the Parks and Recreation Building on Passons Boulevard.

The city's own fall events are clustered closer to the middle of town:

• Halloween Spooktacular, Saturday, October 24, at Pico Park from 5 to 9 p.m., according to the city calendar.
• Día de los Muertos altar at the Pico Rivera Senior Center, on display now through Monday, November 2. Senior Center staff built it, and it includes photos residents sent of loved ones, pets among them. The Senior Center's number is 562-948-4844.
• Park Pals fall edition for ages 7 to 12, with the next session on October 29. It's free, but registration is required.

Bookmark the project site for the north end. The Corps posts its closure maps and fact sheets there, along with English and Spanish versions of the trail-closure notice, and that's where an official detour would show up first.

Wondering how years of construction near the dam could affect your block, or what the north end might look like after 2033? Kimberly at Klybarra Realty keeps up with these changes across the communities she serves and is happy to talk through what they mean for your home. Schedule Your Free Consultation.