We’re now nearly a month removed from Brighton Boulevard’s grand opening, but if you’ve driven down the street lately, “open” probably wouldn’t be a word you would use to describe it.
According to Heather Burke, a public information specialist at Denver Public Works, they still have some shrubs and trees to plant on the portion of Brighton Boulevard from 29th to 40th — and there will be intermittent lane closures up until they complete that work. When that section is complete, she says, they will be fully finished with phase one of the project (which is what the grand opening celebration was all about). In its entirety, this four-lane phase of the project has now taken 19 months.
Nate Pappanhagen, 29, commutes through the area. He said driving became such a pain for him that he now just rides his bike down the Platte around the construction zones. He lives downtown, and although he says biking through the cones and traffic is not the easiest task in the world, it’s still quite a bit better for him than trying to navigate his car through the neighborhood daily.
Besides the detours and traffic, businesses in the area reportedly suffered during the height of the construction.
The city is still a few months away from completing the full amount of work on Brighton, as phase two of the project will be dedicated to the northern part of of the boulevard with work happening from 40th to 44th. They have completed their work on the east side of the street, but drivers can expect intermittent lane closures until the west side is complete.
The National Western Center will be taking the lead on construction on Brighton from 47th Avenue to Race Court.
