Project and Master Plan
The BID believes that building its image as green corridor is vital to attracting new residents and businesses to West Colfax, and increase sales for owners. West Colfax Green Pilot: Streetscape brings $346,600 in Federal funds won by the BID to add solar pedestrian lights, trees, and sustainable public art at the East and West gateways to the corridor. The project, already underway this past fall, features all renewable power sources for the irrigation system and public art lighting, as well as pedestrian scale lights, to put West Colfax Avenue on the green map (both literally and figuratively). These streetscape improvements are targeted to those blocks where the City, with the BID’s strong support, has installed full-time on-street parking and medians using $1.2MM in Better Bond funds. These combined improvements to the ROW will vastly improve pedestrian safety and comfort, as well as the attractiveness and desirability of key sections of the West Colfax corridor, all of which are key components of a thriving Main Street.
Most recently, Joe Riche and Demiurge Design of Denver installed sustainable public art on the new West Colfax medians. The design, known a Typha (or cattail), is based on cattails found around Sloans Lake and used to extract arsenic and other pollutants from contaminated sites. With its futuristic design and renewable energy power source, it harkens toward a newly revitalized, sustainable West Colfax, as shown on our solar projects and public art pages.
The basis for this project is our 2010 Streetscape Master Plan developed with Hyperform Design Co-op and community input. The plan is summarized in this section of recommendations for prioritizing the improvements on sections of the corridor from West to East, culminating with the Green Power Gateway at the East.
