ARVADA —Ralston Road runs through the heart of Arvada, a road cutting east-west through many of the historic areas of town.
It boasts major attractions like Olde Town and the soon-to-arrive Gold Line, Ralston-Central Park and the Walmart under construction at Independence Street.
The 1.4-mile stretch from Wadsworth Boulevard to Independence Street is a major commercial corridor. But the heavily used road, residents say, has unsafe driving conditions.
“There’s been two major accidents on the road in front of our hospital the last five years,” said Russell Drabek, who owns the Jefferson Animal Clinic at 8790 Ralston Road, citing the center turn lane as a contributing factor. “Ralston Road was never meant to be a five-lane road.”
Higher than average accident rates, anecdotal stories of risks to pedestrians and sections with either no sidewalks or sidewalks inches from the road have long been concerns.
“It’s actually less a matter of the road being run down versus the increased capacity and need to widen and modernize it,” said city transportation planning engineer John Firouzi. “With redevelopment occurring at Arvada Square and the triangle area, a maturing Olde Town — there’s just much more in the way of traffic being carried over Ralston Road.”
Mayor Marc Williams agrees.
“Some sections of that road are quite frankly scary to walk,” he said.
Last year, a 21-member citizen-led committee was again tasked with prioritizing $540 million in needed capital projects on a roughly $76 million budget over the next 10 years.
Ralston Road was at the top of the list when the report was released a few weeks ago.
“On Aug. 10, staff will present to City Council the first draft of the 10-year Capital Improvement Plan,” said city manager Mark Deven. “We think it has a good chance of moving forward.”
In order for that to happen, the city would have to pay off bonds by 2018 for the money used to extend West 72nd Avenue.
“One of the assumptions we’re making is that voters will authorize the reissuance of new debt that will help us be able to pay for these improvements,” Deven said.
What those improvements could look like is far from decided but a previous consultant recommended wider sidewalks set further back from the road, a wider road, and the purchase of a half-dozen or so existing businesses and strips of land along the corridor.
Standard improvements to curb, gutter and drainage systems would also be part of the project.
Williams said the goal is a safer pedestrian experience, widening certain parts of the road, eliminating pinch points and improving traffic flow in and .
“I expect this to be done in phases because we will need to work with property owners if we have to do agreed upon acquisitions,” Williams said. “Our staff will also work closely with property and business owners to minimize impacts to their business as much as possible.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729 or abriggs@denverpost.com
