The leaders of UH came together to reopen the repaired Cullen Blvd. | Justin Tijerna / The Cougar
After two years of planning and campaigning, Cullen Boulevard has been repaired. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday, Sept. 24, to celebrate its final construction.
“This is the culmination of two years of work by SGA, (former SGA president and alumnus) Cedric Bandoh, as well as our Board of Regents really coming together,” said Student Government Association President Charles Haston. “It really shows what students can do when they take initiative and actually fight for that they believe in.”
Regents, students and alumni attended the small ceremony with city officials and the university president, who all took part in the Rebuild Cullen Initiative. Bandoh fronted the project.
“The difficult step at the beginning was creating awareness on campus,” Bandoh said.
Alongside Bandoh was Mark Solano, political science graduate and former director of external affairs for SGA.
“I would say awareness and persistence were the most difficult challenges, making sure that everyone was on top of things,” Solano said.
Consensus is that the renovation of Cullen Boulevard benefits everyone in the UH community.
“It’s a beautiful street now, and we’re just really happy,” President and Chancellor Renu Khator said.
Cullen runs along the Hofheinz Pavilion, the newly constructed TDECU Stadium and the soon-to-be-rebuilt basketball training facility.
“Everybody knew the street was in poor condition, but we wanted students to know they had the power to step up and use their voice to do something about it,” Bandoh said. “It wasn’t just because of the stadium or the Hofheinz Pavilion being renovated. Nineteen thousand vehicles travel down this road a day. We deserved better.”
