DENVER — City and community leaders celebrated the replacement of Denver's Larimer Street bridge and other street improvements at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.
The project replaced the 64-year-old bridge over Cherry Creek and increased the amount of space to people who ride bicycles, roll and walk between downtown Denver and the Auraria campus, according to a release. It added a two-way protected bikeway, 12-foot-wide sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, more seating options, public art and trees. A single travel lane for cars was maintained.
“We want to make it easy for people to bike, walk and drive downtown,” Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “The bridge contributes to our goal of getting more folks walking and rolling downtown. This project will make it easier and safer for Denverites to travel between the Auraria Campus and Downtown, two critical economic and entertainment centers for our city, while contributing to our goal of activating downtown with beautiful and accessible public spaces.”
“It’s amazing to see the transformation that has occurred along this stretch of Larimer Street,” said District 10 Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds. “We have a new bridge over Cherry Creek that will serve the area for decades to come and more room for people to walk and roll between downtown and the campus, making both locations more accessible to all.”
The release said the $7 million bridge replacement and streetscaping project links businesses and homes in the downtown area on one side, with three institutions of higher learning on the other -- the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver, all located on the Auraria Campus.
“We are thrilled that Connecting Auraria supports a space with a distinct identity as an urban campus with vital gateways, vibrant activations, and connections to its surrounding city,” said Colleen Walker, CEO of the Auraria Higher Education Campus (AHEC). “More than a beautiful new state-of-the-art bridge, the corridor improves the student experience and safety on Larimer Street, better integrates the Auraria Campus with downtown Denver, and will continue accelerating the merger of the two sides of the Cherry Creek.”
In addition to making travel improvements, new lighting, planters and benches were installed and green infrastructure was added to support the city’s water quality efforts, according to the release.
“The planters on the north side of Larimer Street receive stormwater off the street, cleaning it before it makes its way to Cherry Creek, and serve to cool the environment and mitigate urban heat,” said Adam Phipps, Executive Director of Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. “In addition, new lighting strung across the bridge will serve as a beacon to welcome people to this space, help them navigate at night and make the area safer.”
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