12 16 COLFAX RECEIVES $500K FROM CITY GOVERNMENT FOR IMPROVEMENTS By Jennifer Turner Denver City Council and Mayor Hancock recently approved $500,000 the Colfax Collaborative requested for design work for street improvements and pedestrian enhancements on Colfax Avenue. The Colfax Collaborative is comprised of the West Colfax, Colfax Ave, Bluebird and Colfax Mayfair Business Improvement Districts, which all run roughly from Monaco to Sheridan on Colfax. The four groups felt approaching the City Council and Mayor as a united front was the best way to garner support. The money will be used to complete 30 percent of the design work necessary for construction plans and qualify the project for inclusion in the 2017 General Obligation Bond. The total cost for the full scope of the work is unknown but is expected to exceed 10 million dollars. Funding for the design work will come from the city’s 2017 budget. The proposed projects include increasing the number of on-street parking spaces and adding median islands to provide pedestrians a safe zone midway through crossings. More curb extensions, stoplights, crosswalks and wider sidewalks are other elements of the plan. "The City Council's unanimous approval to add $500,000 is an important and necessary step towards improving Colfax infrastructure and streetscape funded through the General Obligation Bond,” said Community Director for Colfax Ave. Business Improvement District Frank Locantore. “The great news is that Colfax Avenue has the fourth highest private investment of 20 corridors in Denver, but desperately needed infrastructure improvements are the purview of the City." Colfax is home to hundreds of locally-owned business-
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On Nov. 10, protesters gathered under the group name “Denver United for Better Than Trump” near the Colorado State Capitol. The protesters marched from the capital down Broadway, turned at 16th towards Speer and returned up Colfax back to the Capitol. Photo by Sara Hertwig. es and serves tens of thousands of residents, but the historic street has seen better days. The hope is these improvements will make it safer, draw more visitors and attract investment to the area. City Council was integral in securing the funding. Six city council members have districts that touch areas on Colfax. This project is one of only two that have unanimous council support. “Over a year ago, City Council, city departments and the Business Improvement Districts began a discussion and planning process on re-developing Colfax Avenue,” said Councilman Wayne New. “It included encouraging improved economic development, enhanced safety, affordable housing, implementing bus rapid transit
and providing streetscape improvements for businesses, pedestrians and neighborhoods. The $500,000 of additional budget funds was requested by the four Colfax BIDs, endorsed by City Council and approved by the Mayor. These funds will be used to create more livable and enjoyable streetscape improvements for our businesses and residents along Colfax.” General obligation (GO) bond funding is needed to get the improvements built. You can help get Colfax on the 2017 bond list by providing input at upcoming meetings to discuss GO Bond 2017 priorities. Read Councilwoman Kniech’s column this month for information on GO Bond 2017 meeting locations and times.
BURNHAM YARD CLOSING ENDS CHAPTER OF DENVER HISTORY By Lucy Graca As commuters riding RTD’s C or E Lines rise over Santa Fe Drive and pull into the 10th and Osage station, they might look down at the mass of railroad tracks and lines of locomotives and freight cars gathering graffiti to the west. Drivers heading west on the Eighth Avenue overpass may notice they pass within a few feet of an enormous, red brick locomotive maintenance shop. What these commuters are looking at is the Burnham Rail Yard, built 142 years ago by the Rio Grande Railroad to service its steam and diesel locomotives. The yard
was also where passenger coaches and freight cars were built and maintained. In December 2015, Union Pacific, which now owns the yard, announced it would close the site in February 2016 and sell the 70-acre site to developers. Excitement reigns, since the site lies just south of Downtown in the heart of Lincoln Park. Meanwhile, Historic Denver, the Colorado History Museum and the Museum of Railway Workers, among others, are scrambling to save six of the site’s 90- to 140-year-old historic buildings. As Historic Denver News reported in its Winter 2016 issue, “The history of Denver is intimately tied to the growth and expansion—and eventual decline—of the American railroad industry. No other industry in Denver has sculpted the city’s built environment to the extent of the rail system… Sites such as Burnham Yards tell the story of Denver’s rise and development, and of thousands of workers who made up the backbone of our
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city.” Burnham’s story began in 1867 when a consortium including John Evans, Walter Cheesman and William Byers built a spur line from Denver to the Union Pacific station at Cheyenne, Wyoming, thereby connecting Denver to Chicago and the East coast. Later, William Jackson Palmer founded the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1870. Eventually, the railroad served destinations throughout Colorado and extended to the West coast; first in narrow gauge, which Palmer thought was the “future of railroading,” and then by standard gauge in the 1890s. The Durango to Silverton and Toltec Lines are remnants of Palmer’s first narrow-gauge tracks. Originally a dairy farm, Burnham Yard opened in 1874 to continued on page 24
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