Highland resident Christopher Cocks watched Saturday as local officials symbolically kicked off construction of a $5.2 million pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25 that will link his historic Denver neighborhood with Lower Downtown.
“The pieces are coming together to help my commute,” he said, referring to the bridge and the soon-to-open southeast corridor light-rail line that will take Cocks from Union Station to his job in the Denver Tech Center.
The bridge will be one of the longest single-span structures in the state and will cross I-25 where the old 16th Street viaduct once traversed the interstate.
The bridge is due to open next summer and will give Highland residents easy pedestrian access to Commons Park, the rapidly developing Central Platte Valley and Union Station, hub of a growing rail network.
The southeast train line’s opening is set for December 2006.
Highland is an old neighborhood on the west side of I-25 with a panoramic view of downtown and hilly streets that give it a San Francisco-like feel.
“It just opens up the whole area,” Jennifer Lydiard said of the pedestrian and bicycle bridge.
Lydiard is general manager of LoLa, the popular Mexican seafood restaurant in Denver’s South Pearl Street commercial area that is moving in March to Boulder Street in Highland, a block from the bridge’s west portal.
LoLa will have twice the space in its new location, which is on the site formerly used by Olinger Mortuary.
“This area is going to explode,” Denver City Councilwoman Judy Montero said, pointing to a planned commercial “renaissance” along Central Street between 15th and 20th streets, also within yards of the bridge’s west end.
Many new condominiums and shops already dot the area and officials expect the bridge will accelerate development. The span will link Central Street with Platte Street on the east side of I-25.
The bridge will be 320 feet long and 70 feet high at its highest point. It is a joint project of Denver, the Regional Transportation District, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the federal government.
Laura Williams, another Highland resident who recently bought a condominium in the area, said the bridge will offer much safer pedestrian access to the Platte Valley.
“This is great. It is so dangerous now to walk across the 15th Street bridge,” she said.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
