RSSSun 22 Jul 2007
Lone bike project pulled from Infrastructure Priority Task Force list!
Posted by thalasin under Action ItemsFor those of you who aren’t aware, the City of Denver is proposing a bond issue to the tune of $550 million to address infrastructure and maintenance needs in the City. An Infrastructure Priority Task Force was assembled to create a list of projects to be funded by this money. Once the list was whittled down, one bicycle project remained: the bike/ped bridge over I-25 at the Colorado Center light rail station. This project was included in both the T-Rex and FasTracks plans and were removed at the 11th hour. Recently, the list was trimmed again and the bridge was eliminated from the list.
BikeDenver needs your help on this issue! The City Council Finance Committee is the next group to take action on this. Their meeting is scheduled for 8/1 at 1:30pm. At that time, they will make a recommendation to bring to the entire City Council. The Finance Committee members are: Faatz, Boigon, Brown, Lehmann, and Robb. Please contact your City Councilperson and urge them to reconsider. If you don’t know who your City Councilperson is, you can enter your address and find out here. Links to Council’s web pages are here.
If you are unsure of what to write, we have put together a form letter for you to send to your Councilperson. You can copy verbatim or add your own edits. Be sure to copy the at-large Council members Linkhart (linkhartatlarge@ci.denver.co.us) and Boigon, (carol.boigon@denvergov.org) as well as Mayor Hickenlooper (MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us). Let them hear from the bicycling community!
The text follows:
Subject: Infrastructure Priorities Task Force List
Dear Councilperson (insert name here),
It has recently come to my attention that the lone bicycle-related
Project on the Infrastructure Priorities Task Force’s list has been cut in the final recommendations provided to Council. As a cyclist in Denver, I am disappointed to see that the Colorado Light Rail bridge, which provides a critical bicycle and pedestrian connection, was removed from consideration.
This bridge is key in connecting the neighborhoods on both sides of
I-25 to the Colorado light rail station and provides an important north-south connection for cyclists. Supporting cycling by funding this project follows the directives of Greenprint Denver which aspires to complete transportation connections that support multi-modal transportation options for more of Denver’s citizens.
This is not the first time that the Colorado light rail station bike/ped bridge was recommended for funding and then removed. This project was originally included in the T-Rex plan and the FasTracks proposal and removed at the 11th hour. I urge the City Council not to let this happen again.
Please reconsider the final selection of bond projects for the upcoming November ballot by including this much needed improvement.
Sincerely,
John Q. Citizen
CC: Councilman At-Large Doug Linkhart
Councilwoman At-Large Carol Boigon
Mayor John Hickenlooper
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July 23rd, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I sent this to Councilperson Robb. I hope to hear back from her… I’d love to see this bridge get completed. We need it!
I highly recommend you take the couple of minutes required to send this email. Show your support for bicycle projects!
July 24th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I sent this to Councilperson Johnson and got a quick reply that said it’s not likely that the project will get added back to the list…
Has anyone else sent? Any response?
July 25th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Hi,
I sent it to Councilwoman Robb (who’s my rep, also) and she said:
“We’re looking into this. The bond issue is pretty well maxed out, but we need answers as to when the bridge can be built.
Jeanne”
July 26th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Does anyone know if the finance committee meeting is public, if it hears public comment, and if this would be a good effort? I’ll go if so,
Justin
July 30th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
The Finance Committee meets on Aug. 1 at 1:30 in the Council Conference Room.
July 31st, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Doug Linkhart got back to me, and said a few encouraging things… including:
“While the bicycle bridge over I-25 was included in the bond review process, it did not surface to the top of the final priority list. I am hoping that it can either be included at the last minute or funded through some other mechanism, and will do what I can to see that the project is funded. In the meantime, I have included below a further explanation from the Mayor’s Office for your information.”
Personally, I see the highway as a divider. I don’t go south of that road. You know what that means? No Duffy Rolls, no Stella’s, no Campus Cycles! (okay, I’ve been down there, but not as much as I’d like.) The Millenium Bridge encourages people to go to Little Raven. The ped Platte Bridge encourages people to go to Paris on the Platte and REI and the spice shop. And the new Ped-Bridge over the highway encourages people to go up to Lola’s and all the cool stuff in that part of the highlands. And, those people spread money around the whole way.
Highways divide the city. Bridges connect them. I think we’re better off with a well connected city.