Latest Project Updates (Colfax Viaduct information follows):
WCBID and its project team have put together this Cloverleaf Report describing the design development public engagement process that has propelled the project to its next phase of development with the City & CDOT.
The project is now advancing with the City committing funding to explore the feasibility of a community-preferred long-term redesign, with $500,000 in the 2019 City budget. More information about that work is available here.
For information on the community-preferred design, see this presentation of priorities and design options linked here and the results of the surveys here. Federal West (shown below) is the clear community preference for the redesign. Based on the survey results we’ve also updated priorities for the intersection The goal is for these key priorities to serve as touch points throughout the planning and development of the Cloverleaf. Ultimately, a final design and implementation should reflect and achieve these priorities. The concept illustrated below is an example of how these priorities might be integrated within a redesign.
You can also check out this nice Denverite article on the recent Over the Colfax Clover meeting and plans.
Proposed Federal West long-term design option:
June Design Demonstration
The Denver Post and Next City covered our June 3rd design demonstration, highlighting that this might be the first effort in the USA to shut down an interchange to showcase potential re-designs. We had great food, great music, and great discussions about the cloverleaf. Thanks to all the fantastic volunteers who helped us pull this off!
View the video from the day-of!
View the City as Play demonstration planning exercise video.
Project Description:
The current Colfax and Federal Boulevard Interchange consists of a large, grade-separated “cloverleaf” design. The 29 acre interchange uses a large amount of land to move vehicles through on and off ramps. This design creates dangerous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, who must deal with high-speed traffic, unsafe crossings, and difficult-to-navigate connection points. In its current design the cloverleaf also poses challenges for drivers, with awkward wayfinding for some ramps.
Over the Colfax Clover brings together community members, local technical experts and jurisdictional stakeholders to develop short- and long-term design solutions for an intersection that is safer and easier to navigate for all users. At a series of design charrettes, engineers, urban planners, developers and agency officials explored potential re-designs and land re-uses based on community priorities– a rare opportunity for industry experts and government agencies to efficiently workshop a critical equity issue. Based on these results, a newly formed community active living coalition developed a design demonstration of potential short- and long term re-designs and re-uses planned. At the same time the urban planning/engineering firm has developed visualizations of recommended re-configurations for community assessment.
Transforming the Colfax Viaduct
We are now exploring the idea of expanding the scope of Over the Colfax Clover to encompass the Colfax viaduct and its crossings, such as the one shown here. We are beginning with these questions: Could a multi-use cycle/ped track on the viaduct work? How would we make connections to points below, especially on the Platte? Decision-makers and community members will be able to learn from each other and begin to answer those questions on a walk of the viaduct we’re hosting with WalkDenver and Walk2Connect.
To test the idea and begin to answer these questions, we teamed up with Walk2Connect for a Colfax Viaduct Walking Tour in July. It was a big success, with some great conversations along the way about the challenges and opportunities for creating better pedestrian and bicycle connections between downtown, the Auraria campus, and West Denver. See the map we created for the event below and check out our video of the tour here and a story on Channel7 News!
Over the Colfax Clover Brochure & Timeline:
More on Priorities:
Community priorities that have guided the project over the past two years are reflected in these video interviews, summarized here:
Project Team: West Colfax Business Improvement District, WalkDenver, Critter Thompson Consulting and Michael Baker International.
Key Partners: Denver Housing Authority/West Denver Renaissance Initiative, Del Norte NDC, the Federal Boulevard BID & Partnership, the Denver Public Library, local schools and RNOs, Denver Public Works, CDOT and RTD, Denver Environmental Health, Public Works and Community Planning & Development. This multi-year project is funded through Kaiser Permanente and Gates Family Foundation.
For more information please contact: Dan Shah, West Colfax Business Improvement District at dshah@westcolfaxbid.org or 303-623-3232.
