City of Alamosa Receives RAISE Grant

City of Alamosa Pedestrian Bridge Project Awarded RAISE Grant

In early August, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that more than $2.2 billion in grants would be awarded through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to help urban and rural communities move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make our transportation systems safer, more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable. The City of Alamosa was one of the 166 U.S. cities receiving RAISE grant funding. Alamosa’s nearly $4.8 million Rio Grande Intermodal Transportation grant will fund the construction of a new pedestrian bridge across the span of the Rio Grande River channel in the Adams State University neighborhood. The project includes acquisition of the rightof-way, design, permitting, engineering, and construction of a trailhead parking lot, ADA accessible ramp and surfacing of the approach to the bridge, and construction of the tied arch bridge (approximately 320 feet long and 14 feet wide) with steel reinforced abutments. John Reesor, outdoor recreation supervisor and grants coordinator with Alamosa Parks and Recreation, told Alamosa News: “The first step in the process will be working with the U.S. DOT and engineers to come up with plans for the bridge and ensure that we have completed all of the necessary studies and permitting. This process will also include working diligently with the Army Corps as the bridge interfaces with the levee system. Once the design, engineering, and permitting process is complete and once the DOT has given us the authorization to proceed, we will begin with construction activities.” “The timeline is somewhat uncertain until we begin working with the DOT and engineers,” Reesor added “Our grant application timeline stated we would begin engineering and permitting this fall. With construction beginning late 2023 and going into early 2024. “This announcement is like a lightning spark for the Alamosa community that has been decades in the making. This bridge will be a tremendous asset to our community that will connect neighborhoods and Adams State University to the Rio Grande, our trail system and other outdoor amenities that will enhance our quality of life, help us retain our workforce and help our city thrive into the future. I want to thank the Revitalize the Rio Committee, San Luis Valley Great Outdoor Coalition and our hard-working staff, especially John Reesor, for getting this project to this point,” said Alamosa Mayor Ty Coleman.

Pedestrian Bridge Project Background

In the 1980-1990’s the current FEMAcertified levee system was constructed along the Rio Grande in Alamosa. The levee system, a crucial piece of infrastructure that protects the City from flooding during spring runoff, also serves as an intermodal transportation corridor for Alamosa residents. Public access is open along much of the levee system allowing residents to move through Alamosa, north to south, along the arterial river. One challenge with the current condition of the levee trail system is that public ROWs do not exist in certain key spots along the river which fragments travel for pedestrians and cyclists. The City owns maintenance easements on the entire levee system; however the City does not hold public access easements on the entirety of the levee system. The most densely populated neighborhoods in Alamosa are located around Adams State University’s campus. Currently this neighborhood of students, families and professionals has limited direct access to the levee trail system due to private properties without public ROWs (and landowners unwilling to sell/allow public access) and no infrastructure to cross the river. A pedestrian bridge in the proposed location near Adams State University (ASU) will offer non-motorized transportation alternatives for the Alamosa community, improve intermodal travel safety, and promote active lifestyles. The bridge will open up access to the levee trail system currently blocked by private properties. The bridge will also open up the Adams State neighborhood to the 1,200+ acre City of Alamosa Open Space (the Alamosa City Ranch) across the river. The City Ranch contains a municipal golf course, 11.5 miles of trail, a trout fishing pond, dog

park, disc golf course, archery range, boat ramps and other outdoor recreation amenities all containing spectacular mountain views. These points of interest are currently only realistically accessed by motor vehicles for the majority of Alamosa. To see a visual representation of the current travel conditions and the proposed non-motorized routes through the construction of a pedestrian bridge. The bridge will also provide a route to downtown Alamosa via non-motorized levee trail A preliminary drawing of the project that was submitted with the grant application (electric assist e-bikes and electric wheel chairs are also permitted on the trail system). Alamosa’s downtown is a burgeoning business and cultural center currently going through a lane reduction diet and other pedestrian improvements. This project will lessen the community’s dependence on vehicular transportation and encourage modes of transportation that do not create significant carbon emissions. Project History A pedestrian bridge at ASU has been a long sought-after need of the Alamosa community. For decades, ASU and the City of Alamosa have pursued various sources of funding for this project. In the past five years, this project has again gained momentum. In 2017, the City of Alamosa Comprehensive Plan Update (The Comp Plan) highlighted the public desire for a project to expand the reach and connectivity of the arterial river trails. The Comp Plan states: “There is tremendous excitement and hope for embracing the Rio Grande River corridor as a central recreation asset for the City with complete trails on both sides, trailside amenities, river access points, boating/floating put-ins/takeouts, pedestrian bridges and river bank vegetation improvements. Wayfinding that directs visitors, students and unfamiliar residents to the river was also cited by many community members as a priority investment.” On the heels of the Comp Plan update was the 2017 River Corridor Improvements Feasibility Study. The study was funded in part by the Rio Grande Farm Park, the City of Alamosa, Alamosa County, Adams State University, and various other local partner agencies. The engineering study convened local stakeholders and private property owners to determine the feasibility of recreational, transportation, and environmental improvements along the river corridor that has been heavily altered by agriculture, the levee flood control system, and climate change. The location of the proposed pedestrian bridge in the RGITP project was first identified by Riverbend Engineering as an ideal location due to the bridge filling a pedestrian connection gap, the proximity to ASU and Alamosa’s population center, and the relative short span of the Rio Grande in that location. These first preliminary drawings are shown above. Newer maps have been created to identifying the viability of the bridge in the proposed location with considerations of river span, existing utilities, and private properties. Understanding the need to carry forward the momentum of these previous studies and to move into an implementation phase, in 2018 the City of Alamosa partnered with San Luis Valley Great Outdoors (SLVGO) and a host of other government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private businesses to form the “Revitalize the Rio” (RtR) community action group. Leaders from the RtR group have been working on the public directive to “embrace the river corridor” in the years since, still meeting and working in 2022. RtR has helped the City in the past 4 years add 8+ new trail miles along the river, acquire 203 acres of private property along the river for improved public access, added conservation easements on this public property, improved pedestrian wayfinding, and recently installing two non-motorized boat put-in/take-outs for the first time in the City. For these efforts in improving equitable access to outdoor recreation and a number of other quality of life factors, Alamosa County won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health prize. In 2020, again the City of Alamosa partnered with San Luis Valley Great Outdoors on a fundraising campaign called “Trails Connect” in an effort to bring in financial support for a pedestrian bridge near Adams State University. While the cost estimates stated in this fundraising campaign proved to be low, the campaign has been successful in yielding $100,000 of private donations for the RGITP. See funding the commitment letter from SLVGO. Also in 2020, City of Alamosa leadership recognized that more work needed to be done to create a public vision for a connected arterial river corridor multiuse path. The City sought funding from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and was awarded a grant for the completion of a “Riparian Park to Refuge Trails Master Plan”. In 2021, Alamosa entered into a contract with THK Associates to perform the master planning process. The goal of this project is to create a document that will be the roadmap for future trail development and trail connections. The

plan will assist the City of Alamosa in determining priority property acquisitions, right of ways, and needed infrastructure pieces to connect four main open spaces: (1) The Alamosa Riparian Park; (2) The Alamosa City Ranch; (3) the Malm Trail Network; and (4) the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge - hence the project name “Riparian Park to Refuge Trail Master Plan”. The end result of this project will be a final public document, which will include the following deliverables: 1. a master plan report that is informed by the Alamosa public and considers issues of health equity, transportation needs, recreational opportunities, and ecological impacts 2. creation of a phased list of future trail development projects, cost estimates, and conceptual drawings for said projects contained within the master plan 3. funding strategy contained within the master plan and narrative that can be used in future fundraising efforts 4. an ecological recommendation component included in the master plan 5. creation of design standards for trails The master planning process is still currently in progress at the time of this grant application and nearing completion in the Summer of 2022. THK Associates as identified a series of gaps in the existing trail system that can be eliminated through ROW acquisitions and additional bridge crossings and underpasses (see pages 28-29 in the “2022.01.13 Public Meeting Boards”). In public meetings to date, the ASU Bridge proposed in this RGITP project is again emerging as the top priority connection. Upon completion, the final master plan will be published on the Alamosa Parks and Recreation website at https://bit.ly/AlamosaTrailPlanning.

RAISE Grant Criteria

RAISE grant award-winning projects were evaluated on several criteria, including safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, partnership and collaboration, innovation, state of good repair, and mobility and community connectivity. Within these areas, the Department considered how projects will improve accessibility for all travelers, bolster supply chain efficiency, and support racial equity and economic growth – especially in historically disadvantaged communities and areas of persistent poverty. “We are proud to support so many outstanding infrastructure projects in communities large and small, modernizing America’s transportation systems to make them safer, more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable,” said Secretary Buttigieg. The RAISE program is one of several ways communities can secure funding for projects under the Infrastructure Law’s competitive grant programs. Later this year, recipients of the first-ever National Infrastructure Project Assistance (MEGA) program, as well as the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (RURAL) will be announced. About RAISE Grants

• 50% of funding is designated for projects in rural areas, and 50% of the funding is designated for projects in urban areas. • Nearly two-thirds of projects are located in areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities. • The largest grant award is $25 million. Per statute, no more than $341.25 million could be awarded to a single state in this round of funding. • Among this year’s selected projects, 11 included a local hire provision. • Several projects include workforce development aspects including four projects that have project labor agreements, eight projects that have registered apprenticeship programs and an additional eight projects with other workforce development provisions.

The full list of awards can be found at transportation. gov/raisegrants/raise-2022-fact-sheets.

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