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Colorado transportation grant to fund Sixth Street revamp in Glenwood Springs

Glenwood Springs DDA helps city implement Sixth Street master plan

By Ike Fredregill Special to the Post Independent

Sixth Street, once Glenwood Springs’ main artery, is to be revitalized as a multimodal community thoroughfare with the help of a $1.1 million grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation, a city news release states. 

“These funds will help us to enhance pedestrian and bike safety while encouraging the Sixth Street Corridor to become a vibrant, walkable district integrated with greenspace and public art,” Mayor Pro-tem Charlie Willman said in a news release. 

With CDOT’s Larger Safety Infrastructure grant funds, Glenwood Springs plans to reconstruct Sixth Street from Laurel Street to Pine Street, addressing safety concerns for vehicles, pedestrians and bikes.



For the city’s Downtown Development Association, securing the grant is the first step in a long process of folding Sixth Street back into Glenwood Springs’ downtown core, Executive Director Jillian Sutherland said. 

“The DDA has identified the revitalization of north downtown as a vital effort for the organization,” Sutherland explained. “This is the first significant implementation step of the Sixth Street master plan, which was completed in 2017.”



Acting in partnership with the city, the DDA fully funded the revitalization project’s engineering and design phases, she added. 

Scheduled to begin in 2023, the Sixth Street project could convert five existing vehicle lanes into a two-way “Complete Street” with two vehicle lanes, parallel parking lanes, 8-feet wide walkways, tree and landscaping areas as well as an 8-foot-wide, two-way separated bike lane, a news release states.

 “Complete Streets are streets for everyone,” City Engineer Terri Partch said in a news release, “making travel safe, convenient and comfortable for users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation.”

The CDOT grant was provided as part of the department’s Revitalizing Main Streets program and could cover about 65% of the estimated $1.8 million project cost. 

In addition to the CDOT Main Streets grant, DDA will contribute $250,000 to advance the Sixth Street planning vision toward implementation. The remaining $383,000 will be funded through the city’s Acquisition & Improvements (A&I) fund, a news release states.

“By advancing the community-driven Sixth Street master plan, we can better activate our historic Main Street, strengthen the link between two major regional trails, encourage reduced pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, foster sustainable economic development and resiliency for small businesses north of the river, and create a more welcoming space for all,” Willman said in a news release.

Once the project is underway, Sutherland said the DDA could work with the city to reimagine the Grand Avenue Pedestrian Bridge landing area, a grassy pad south of Sixth Street and east of Village Plaza Shopping Center. 

“Sixth Street is really functioning quite differently than it did historically, and we’re designing the new street to serve everyone better,” Sutherland said. “We’re also an active partner with the city in the design of the north landing area, which will complement this street redesign. Then, we look forward to starting conversations about implementing the next phases of the master plan.”


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