DENVER (KDVR) — Drivers in north Denver, get ready. Leaders with the city and county of Denver broke ground on a big improvement project Friday that will take some time to complete.
The area between 47th and 52nd avenues in the Globeville neighborhood is set to be revitalized through the Washington Street Corridor project, thanks to the help of Denver voters.
“Today, we are celebrating decades worth of community informed improvements on the future of Washington Street which is one of the main arteries through Globeville. The community has been asking for decades for investment in infrastructure in sidewalks, and pedestrian friendly options so they can enjoy their community. And now we’re here to deliver on that promise,” said District 9 City Council Member Darrell Watson.
City leaders said the goal of the project is to make the area safer and will include new sidewalks, pedestrian pathways and bike lanes. The area is also set to see some green infrastructure and trees integrated into the urban corridor.
“It’s been a 10-year promise an even before that, we’ve been discussing Globeville and pedestrian safety and sidewalks and street safety. As you walked over here, there are no sidewalks currently near any of these businesses or where these communities go,” said Watson.
The transformation was made possible using some federal and city funding.
However, a substantial amount of the funding came from Denver voters who approved the “Elevate Denver Bond” in 2017 and the “Rise Denver Bond” in 2021. Around $20 million from those bonds will go to the project in the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods.
“The go bond is an approach that the city uses where we have dollars that we are allowed to take out debt on. It’s dollars that we’ve gathered from property taxes that the public has already authorized. So the go bond was something that we’ve voted on about five and ten years ago for two called Elevate and Rise. And what that meant is without raises taxes, the public was saying yes, you can issue debt to pay for a lot of projects in the community,” said Amy Ford, executive director for Denver’s Department of Transportation & Infrastructure.
Denver voters have another bond to consider in one month — the $950 million “Vibrant Denver Bond.” Ford said other projects like the one currently underway in Globeville and the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea area could become a reality if voters approve it.
“Something similar to what we are doing here on Washington street is how we would completely reshape the santa fe corridor and the street scaping, mobility and safety project. Equally on W 38th, on the west side of Denver where you start thinking about the safety and how people go around. And also what those roads mean for economic development, the businesses nearby and how it brings the community together,” Ford said.
The “Vibrant Denver Bond” will allocate $75 million to completing improvements in the Globeville area.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
