Construction started Thursday on a long-anticipated bike and pedestrian bridge over Santa Fe Drive.
The 370-foot bridge will connect two neighborhoods that have been cut in half by six lanes of traffic and a major rail corridor.
It will cross Santa Fe at West Jewell Avenue, spanning over the adjacent freight railroad and light rail tracks near Overland Golf Course.
City officials said the bridge will solve poor connectivity between its east and west neighborhoods. After the bridge is constructed, residents on either side of Santa Fe will have easier access to a portion of South Broadway, the South Platte River Trail and the nearby RTD Evans Station.
Pedestrians and bikers hoping to cross Santa Fe currently have to take the West Evans Avenue bridge, which is about a quarter mile south of Jewell Avenue and home to four lanes of fast-moving traffic.
Construction is expected to take about 21 months. Denver City Council approved a $2.5 million contract to buy materials for the bridge earlier this year.
In total, the bridge is expected to cost about $25 million to construct. About half of the money comes from the 2017 Elevate Denver bond program, with the remaining half comes from other local, state and federal sources.
Once completed, the bridge will stand 30 feet high and 12 feet wide.
City officials are still finalizing the fine details of the bridge’s design, but there are plans for public art, as well as some sort of barrier to prevent objects from being thrown off the bridge.
