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NEWS: Halloween is proving to be very haunting for the Auraria student governments. Their Bizarre turned into a financial horror.
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NEWS: Another one bites the dust. This time he's from UCO.
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FEATURE: Brad Bowles, a UCO theatre instructor, talks about an upcoming play his department will present and he will direct.
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METROSTYLE: Our reviewers once again get cultural with a book and art review.
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Divine Aft? seepage 11
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Volume 4, Issue 11 ©Metropress November 11, 1981
Larimer and Lawrence streets may be closed
Colfax viaduct slated to be reb.uilt by Karen Breslin
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- available to oommunities to rebuild deteriorating bridges and viaducts, Finch said. l'hough she says there's "no guarantee at this point that we'll re-Jeive any (funding for oonstruction)," the recently announced $4.l million federal engineering and design grant makes project funding more likely.
ing RTD buses from rumbling down the crumbling viaducts. (Colfax alone carries 35,000 cars and 700 buses daily.) "Replacement of the Lawrence interchange is highly desirable, but not .the immediate need," Finch said. "And, in short funding times you go with what you need."
Denver has received initial funding for a three-phase plan to replace the 64-year-old Colfax viaduct and ultimately close traffic on Lawrence and Larimer streets through the Auraria campus. The first phase calls for the replacement of the sub-standard one-way Colfax viaduct with a two-way viaduct, according to Auraria's treacherous Lawrence Street strip will Jennifer Finch, Transportation ultimately be closed in the third phase of the plan . . . Specialist for the Highway financing phase three is somewhat more remote ... Department. Phase two calls for elimination of the substandard Financing phase three is someThe entire plan has been in the Larimer viaduct (built in 1917) what more remote, Finch said, works for close to three years. A and reroutes traffic to the oorridor along W azee and Wal nut because the Lawrence bridge is highway departmeqt task force including officials from streets parallel to Auraria's much newer and not substandard eastern parking lots and playing making it ineligible for bridge ·Auraria and RTD - have been studying plans for the area. . fields. It may possibly pick up the replacement funds. "When you don't have a pot (of "We saw it as an opportunity to one-way 5ystem on the west side funds) to go after, it seems more improve traffic through c_a mpus," of Speer. said Jerry Wartgow, executive Auraria's treacherous obscure," she said. Phase one and two - replacing director of the Auraria Higher Lawrence Street strip will ultimately be closed in the third Colfax and Larimer - are the Education Center and its task immediate ·ooncern, Finch said. force representative. phase of the plan, Finch said. The Auraria Board of Directors Funding for phase I and II may · Putting off or prolonging the prooome from the Federal Discre- ject could lead to restricted use of were briefed on the plans at its tionary Bridge Replacement fund the viaducts, potentially prohibit- Nov. 10 meeting. Wartgow ex-
pressed ooncern over the phasing of the projects, the timetable for closing the Larimer viaduct and detour plans during construction. In earlier discussions with the task force, Wartgow was told demolition of the Larimer viaduct was included in the first phase. W artgow told the board he was concerned that in moving the Larimer work up to the seoond phase that the highway department and the city could later decide to simply rebuild the old Larimer connection and abandon the W alnut-Wazee corridor for west bound traffic. "No one has even guessed about how long it could be between phase one and phase two," Wartgow said. Demolishing the Larimer viaduct in phase one, Wartgow said, was seen as the highway department's and Denver's oommitment to the Walnut-Wazee oorridor. But city engineer Jack Bruce, speaking before the board, said the issue "was never completely decided," but that "we're committed to trying to work this out." continued on page l2