Studies of water quality and usage, the Mill Avenue Bridges and ASU recreation ensued and programming began.

The Rio Salado Master Plan showed a Town Lake concept with a continuous body of water between the north and south shores.

In 1995, the city added more staff to the team dedicated to the Rio Salado project and began construction of a mile long bike path along the south bank of the river.

Originally built in 1931, Tempe Beach Park was completely renovated in 1999 as part of the construction of Town Lake.

The park connects to the five miles (8.0 km) of paths for bicycling, jogging or in-line skating that circle the lake.

Annual events at Tempe Beach Park include the Fiesta Bowl New Year's Eve Block Party, Circle K Tempe Music Festival, Oktoberfest, APS Fantasy of Lights, Fourth of July fireworks show, and AVP Pro Beach Volleyball (now held in Glendale as of 2007).

There is also the annual Rowers Triathlon, which consists of a 4,000 meter erg piece, body circuits, and a five kilometer run.

To keep users of the lake safe from flash floods on the river in the mountains upstream of Tempe, high winds, lightning, other severe weather and man-made disasters, an emergency warning system was needed.

If lightning is detected in the area, a sensor automatically activates a amber colored strobe, and in the event of evacuation (i.e. weather, natural disaster, man-made disaster, dam break, or other emergencies), the sirens roar in the steady "alert" tone and the red strobe is activated.

Tempe's old dams were computer controlled to maintain air pressure of six pounds per square inch (41 kPa).

Due to rapid deterioration of the west dams, the City of Tempe had worked out an agreement to replace them with manufacturer Bridgestone.

Work was scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010 in conjunction with a new $6.3 million USD pedestrian bridge that will cross over the tops of the west dams.

The dam features seven steel gates, the largest of their kind in the world at over 100 feet (30 m) long and weighing 230,000 pounds (100 metric tons).

[8] At approximately 9:45 pm MST on July 20, 2010, one section of the inflatable dam on the west end burst, thus releasing water up to 15,000 cubic feet per second (420 m3/s) into the normally dry Salt River bed.

Emergency workers rushed to clear the area and the lake's outdoor warning sirens started wailing, both within minutes.

[12] Some of the fish that had temporarily survived the dam break and were left stranded in shallow pools of water in the lake bed were scooped out and fed to a captive six-foot-long (1.8 m) alligator in the parking lot of the Tempe Center for the Arts on Friday, July 23.

This method saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars versus the alternative of filling it with Colorado River water from the CAP.

The lake has released water on multiple occasions as the river levels rise normally due to heavy rain or winter snow runoff.

[18] The Valley Metro Light Rail project began building this bridge (designed by T. Y. Lin International) over Tempe Town Lake, starting in the first quarter of 2005.

The LED light display that occurs each time a train passes overhead at dark casts varying colors onto the lake, increasing the aesthetic quality of the bridge at night.