Those who have traversed the paths that crisscross in southern Arapahoe County know there are places in the park where the sidewalk ends.
One of those abrupt stopping points along Broncos Parkway east of South Blackhawk Street will soon be a dead end no more thanks to a launched by the .
The Broncos Parkway effort is one of two projects expected to be completed in the Dove Valley area by the end of July. Both are aimed at improving community connectivity and boosting safety, according to Kevin Crehan, a landscape architect with who is leading the trails initiative on behalf of Dove Valley taxing district.
“One of the really nice benefits of the Broncos Parkway trail is it provides a safe, off-street route for cyclists and pedestrians to reach Dove Valley Regional Park from the surrounding neighborhoods,” Crehan said of the $251,000 project that will extend the park’s the existing concrete trail east along Broncos Parkway until it meets with sidewalks already built near Jordan Road.
Littleton-area resident Alan Lee rode his bike through Dove Valley last week. He said he often pedals around the region in the summer when he rides from his house to his job in Centennial and back on nice days. He said he typically doesn’t go east of the Dove Valley Regional Park on Broncos Parkway, but an expanded trail network could present new opportunities.
“I don’t ride in this area recreationally but I might in the future once I have more time on my hands,” Lee said. “Anything that improves the bike system is great, I think.”
Thanks to a 75-foot, prefabricated steel bridge trucked in from Minnesota and a crane that was scheduled to hoist it into place this week, crews are also nearing completion on a short connection between detached segments of the Happy Canyon Trail between Jordan and Chambers roads. That connection will span a drainage that bisects the existing path. Once complete, the connection will be part of a continuous trail linking Cheery Creek Reservoir in the north with the Cherokee Trail south of E-470, open space officials say.
The Happy Canyon project is costing taxpayers an estimated $287,000, Crehan said. A bulk of the funding for both projects is coming from the metro district, but is contributing, he said.
“I think all of these improvements go to making Dove Valley a better place to work, live and play,” Crehan said. “Those connections to the Cherry Creek regional trail and the Cherokee Trail are important to fill in gaps. There will be more reasons to go to the park now.”
Area accessibility will further be bolstered by the eventual construction of trail along Lone Tree Creek. That path would connect to Broncos Parkway on the west side of Centennial Dove Airport to Caley Avenue to the north, according to Allison Wittern, public information officer with the .Centennial is spearheading that project, and will combine local money with contributions from the county and the Dove Valley Metro District to pay for design engineering work expected to begin soon, Wittern said.
“Once the trail connections are complete, this regional project will benefit Coloradans throughout the metro area,” she said in an email.
Arapahoe County has regional ambitions of its own with a master plan in place to expand Dove Valley Regional Park by nearly 30 acres in coming years. While financing and phasing for that effort are still being worked out, county open space officials believe filling in the places where sidewalks end is an important step for connecting the Dove Valley area.
“This is an area where we’ve seen a lot of expansion to the east in recent years,” Arapahoe County Open Space spokeswoman Amanda Slates said of Dove Valley. “Itap really exciting to be a part of bringing those areas into the regional trails network.”