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Rifle plans to expand and move bus park-and-ride

Alex Zorn
  

The Rifle park and ride located at Railroad Avenue and Centennial Parkway in 2019.
Chelsea Self / Citizen Telegram

As Rifle’s efforts to improve its entrance to downtown continue, city officials have agreed to move the downtown bus park-and-ride.

At its Feb. 20 meeting, Rifle City Council approved an amendment to the town’s downtown strategic plan that will pave the way for the project to move forward. The plan is for the park-and-ride to move just north of the railroad tracks on Rifle Depot property, made possible through an already discussed land swap proposal between Rifle Depot owner and CDOT.

The current park-and-ride corner would then be open for future development.

“I have to say I’m pretty excited to see that,” Rifle Mayor Barbara Clifton said at the council meeting. “That’s something the city has been working on for some time,” she said, referring to city leaders’ vision for a revitalized Rifle downtown gateway.



Plans to improve Rifle’s entryway have been discussed by city officials for some time, as the construction of the new Wendy’s restaurant is set to begin any day.

The project, paid for in part by city funds to improve the public infrastructure on the site, is one of the first steps in improving the southern entrance to the downtown area.



Clifton also added that she’s excited for the park-and-ride to grow in size.

“This is something we have been talking about for a while, so it’s good to see we are moving forward,” Mayor Pro Tem Theresa Hamilton said

Planning Director Nathan Lindquist said it will be a multistep process over a couple of years to complete the project, but the goal is to create a better bus stop area for Rifle at the new location.

He said he expects the new facility to have around 175 parking spaces, compared to the 60 spaces at the current location.

azorn@citizentelegram.com

Correction: At the Feb. 20, Rifle City Council meeting, only an amendment to  the Downtown Transit-Oriented Design Strategic Plan between CDOT and Rifle was approved. While a land swap proposal has been discussed between CDOT and the Rifle Depot owner, it has not been approved by city council. The story also ran in the Aspen Times and Citizen Telegram. 


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