Construction of the two- block justice center approved by voters this week will begin the effort to relieve jail crowding. But it could create a new kind of crowding for downtown drivers and pedestrians.
The city intends to begin work on the first phase of the new jail and courts complex early next year, joining several other massive projects already underway downtown.
While any kind of downtown construction creates traffic challenges, Denver’s top public works official says his department is on top of the issue.
“We certainly are thinking about it, and we’ll work out a traffic-control plan to deal with that,” public works manager Bill Vidal said Wednesday. “That’s part of what goes into thinking about how we construct these projects.”
Denver residents on Tuesday gave a green light to the city’s plan to build a $378 million justice center on the 400 and 500 blocks of West Colfax Avenue. The complex is planned to include 1,500 jail beds, 35 courtrooms and a parking garage.
The city expects to begin work on the parking garage in February, with construction of the jail and courthouse to follow in November 2006. At that point, the project will join several others in the works:
The city’s 1,100-room Hyatt Convention Center Hotel at 14th and Stout streets is scheduled to be complete in December. It has spawned a handful of adjacent hotel projects that have yet to begin construction.
The $90.5 million expansion of the Denver Art Museum continues at West 13th Avenue and Bannock Street. The project closed a block of 13th from August 2004 to last month. Construction is expected to continue through March.
The Denver Newspaper Agency’s building at Colfax and Broadway is slated for completion in fall 2006. While the building’s construction will not overlap significantly with the justice center, the projects are just five blocks apart.
City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth, whose district includes most of downtown, called the construction activity “a good thing” in terms of economic development.
“But when we have covered meters because of construction, and one thing might pile on top of another, … it’s important that we have a coordinated (traffic) plan,” she said. “We have to have downtown be accessible to everyone.”
The city soon will solicit design proposals and later, construction plans. Those plans will account for the project’s impact on traffic.
Traffic and parking already are hot-button issues for the neighborhoods around the justice center site, Councilwoman Jeanne Robb said.
Neighbors in the Golden Triangle and Silver Triangle areas insisted that the city’s Civic Center plan include allowances for traffic and parking. And the museum expansion’s temporary closure of 13th was difficult for some. But now, those residents have a distinctive building in their backyards.
“To me, it’s a plus and a minus,” Robb said. “Traffic inconvenience will be balanced by the excitement of watching the justice center go up – hopefully, a great justice center, architecturally.”
