WHEAT RIDGE MAYOR Revitalization Strategy Committee Needs You Page 4
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It’s Bike to Work We Go Page 11
THE GREAT OUTDOORS Kids Need To Cool Off ? Head to Discovery Park Page 12
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Gazette NEIGHBORHOOD
WHEAT RIDGE | APPLEWOOD | MOUNTAIN VIEW | LAKESIDE June 18 – July 15, 2018 • ngazette.com • FREE
Festivals And Fairs Coming To Your Neighborhood ■ By
Sally Griffin
T
he definition of a festival is “a celebration or an occasion for joy, often with a program of cultural events.” A fair is “a public exhibit of culture and particular achievement, often combined with entertainment and sale of products.” Lucky for our area, we have plenty of both. It is that time of year that is the best time for joy, celebration, and fun. I remember how much fun my siblings and I had with carnival rides and games, parades, music, food, and special treats when we were growing up in this area. This year, we want to remind you of several festivals or fairs that will take place in our parks and streets.
Carnation Festival The Carnation Festival is a celebration of the Wheat Ridge community since the city’s incorporation in 1969. Once designated as Carnation City, Wheat Ridge embraces its heritage through this wonderful event. Celebrating its 49th annual festival in 2018, Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival is one of the longest running festivals in Colorado. It has a Continued on page 8
KIA RUIZ POSES WITH A CHICKEN in front of the Wheaties Academy’s public art project, unveiled at the Anderson Pool building on June 12. Chickens and goats were themes suggested by the community to be included in the mural. PHOTO COURTESY WHEATIES ACADEMY.
Diverging Diamonds, W Line, Greenway and Wadsworth Widening ■ By
R
Mike McKibbin
emember when roundabouts were the latest answer to ever-increasing traffic congestion on Colorado highways? Despite some misgivings, they seem to be an accepted part of traffic engineering, even in big box store parking lots. Get ready for diverging diamond interchanges, including one at Interstate 70 and Kipling Street in Wheat Ridge. It was one of several transportation-related projects city manager Patrick Goff described in a recent unofficial State of the City address. According to Wikipedia, diverging diamonds have been used in France since the 1970s and the design was listed by Popular Science magazine as one of the best engineering innovations in 2009. Such interchanges, also called a double crossover diamond interchange, moves traffic on the non-freeway road across to the opposite side on both sides of the highway bridge. That means motorists on the freeway over or underpass briefly drive on the left side of the road. The crossover “X” intersections are usually controlled by traffic lights. Right turn lanes are placed before the crossover intersections. The Colorado Department of Transportation plans this interchange to be similar to U.S. Highway 36 and McCaslin Boulevard in Louisville. However, Kipling Street would remain under the I-70 bridge. CDOT described the overall project to include I-70 from Ward Road to Wadsworth Boulevard and 44th Avenue to 51st Place on Kipling Street. The first potential improvements are the eastbound I-70 auxiliary lane from Ward Road to Kipling
Street and the westbound I-70 off-ramp with associated changes at 49th and 50th avenues. Other changes are planned to the north and south frontage roads and local area streets, along with an eastbound I-70 auxiliary lane from Ward Road to Kipling Street. CDOT completed a planning and environmental linkages study in July 2013. A National Environmental Policy Act environmental assessment and preliminary design began in 2016. Leah Langerman,
public involvement coordinator in the transportation business unit of David Evans and Associates — a CDOT project contractor — wrote in an email that the environmental assessment is expected to be released for public review and a final public meeting held to gather comments in early 2019, followed by Federal Highway Administration permission to proceed. The NEPA study will help CDOT and Wheat Ridge pursue funding by showing the need and the specific improvements
to address the need, Langerman noted. CDOT has also recommended this project be included on a proposed ballot initiative for transportation funding in the November general election, she added. In an interview, Goff added the design will require right-of-way purchases from adjacent property owners, which he expected would take some time. Continued on page 2
PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Daniel Southwick, Police Officer ■ By
Elisabeth Monaghan
O
WHEAT RIDGE POLICE OFFICER DANIEL SOUTHWICK enrolled in the Wheat Ridge Explorer program as a teen, one of the original recruits. PHOTO COURTESY WHEAT RIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ne might say Daniel Southwick was destined to be in law enforcement. With police officers for parents, law enforcement was a field with which Southwick was familiar and a career in which he was interested from an early age. While Southwick grew up in the Denver metro area and attended Arvada West High School, he was drawn to Wheat Ridge. After going for a ride along with a Wheat Ridge police officer, there was no turning back. In his teens, Southwick enrolled in the Wheat Ridge Explorer program, which is an academy designed to provide youth between the ages of 14 and 20 with basic law enforcement skills. “I joined the Wheat Ridge Police Explorer program to gain some first-hand experience of what law enforcement was like in the metro area,” explains Southwick. Southwick graduated from he University of Colorado and then attended the police academy. In December of 2017, Southwick graduated from the academy and is now an official officer of the law. Continued on page 6