The pain-in-the-butt reconstruction of part of Brighton Boulevard is officially over this week.
The city of Denver will celebrate the full reopening of Brighton from 29th to 40th streets on Thursday, June 21. It starts with remarks from the mayor and a ribbon cutting (everybody loves ribbon cuttings, right?), and then turns into a street party.
The street party will run from 4 to 8 p.m.
It will be held at 14 different locations in the River North district.
The party will include a time capsule (which I think is more fun for people in the future) and a scavenger hunt.
There's also a "passport" concept. If you get your passport stamped at eight different participating spots, you can drop it off at the RiNo Made Store in Zeppelin Station for a chance to win "fabulous prizes."
Find more information in this PDF.
What's new?
Major components of the first phase include:
- New traffic signals at 29th Street and 35th Street, and a new pedestrian signal at 33rd Street
- 2.6 miles of 5-foot-wide sidewalks, compared to 0.5 miles now
- Dedicated 6.5-foot-wide cycle tracks on either side of the street. These will essentially be bike lanes that are elevated on the curb, next to the sidewalk, rather than running on the pavement.
- 400 new trees
- 80 designated on-street parking spaces
- 100-plus new benches
- New bike racks
- New pedestrian and street-level lighting
- There will still be two lanes of traffic in each direction
When I drove by recently, it seemed like some of that stuff -- trees and benches -- wasn't installed yet. The sidewalks and bike tracks looked mostly complete, though there seemed to be some gaps still.
Also, let's take a moment to remember when they thought about renaming Brighton to "Broadway Boulevard."
What's next?
The city is still working on Brighton from 40th to 44th streets, which could continue into 2019.
A section of Brighton north of 47th will also be rebuilt as part of the National Western Center project. Check out our coverage.
