Connecting Lowry and Stapleton … Along With A Few Neighbors

Watersheds serve to collect and distribute stormwater, but is it possible that a watershed could connect people and their neighborhoods to one another?

Looking at what is currently under construction along Westerly Creek and at some projects that are still in the planning and design stages, one can envision a powerful greenway connection not just between Lowry and Stapleton, but between parts of Northeast Denver and parts of Northwest Aurora and Lowry and Stapleton.

The three projects already under construction, described last month in this space, are all at Stapleton.

Project #1 will result in park and open space improvements north of 33rd Avenue to the confluence of Westerly Creek with Sand Creek.

Project #2, a channel maintenance project between 29th Avenue and 26th Avenue, is pretty much complete.

Project #3 will finally make it possible for cyclists and pedestrians (and roller-bladers) to cross Montview Boulevard from Stapleton into Aurora’s Montview Park or to enter Stapleton from Aurora – without having to give the least thought to traffic on Montview Boulevard. That’s because there will be a trail underneath the new automobile bridge on Montview Boulevard.

(Traffic Note: The four lanes on Montview between Yosemite and Clinton have already been reduced to two lanes for bridge construction — that will last six months.) That Montview Boulevard bridge project sets the stage for three additional projects that will further progress to a greenway connection along Westerly Creek.

Each of these additional projects is funded. They just are not yet ready for construction.

Project #4 – Stanley Marketplace – One of the businesses immediately adjacent to Stapleton Airport was a manufacturing company called Stanley Aviation. Because it was a private business, not on the airport property, it remained in the City of Aurora when the airport was closed. It is immediately south of 26th Avenue and along and east of Westerly Creek. The creek flows through the Stanley property from 23rd Avenue to 26th Avenue. The Stanley Aviation manufacturing facility is being converted into an urban marketplace. One component of the development will involve greenway improvements, including stream restoration and trails.

Project #5 – Montview Park – Westerly Creek flows through Montview Park in Aurora just before it crosses Montview Boulevard, currently in culverts. As soon as the new bridge on Montview Boulevard has been completed, work will begin on park improvements, including stream restoration and a trail system that will be part of the larger network. That will extend the greenway corridor along Westerly Creek south from Stapleton to 17th Avenue.

Project #6 – Connecting 11th Avenue to 13th Avenue – At the north end of Lowry, the Westerly Creek greenway ends at Kelly Road Dam, just south of 11th Avenue. Denver Parks has funding for planning, design, and construction of greenway corridor improvements from 11th Avenue to 13th Avenue. Those improvements will connect open space at Lowry to the recently completed New Freedom Park at 13th and Xenia Street. Denver Parks owns two small parcels between 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue where the creek is in an open channel, and they will be key components of this project. Planning is scheduled to begin in late March or early April.

The combined result of the three ongoing construction projects and the three projects that are awaiting completion of planning and design prior to their construction is shown in the accompanying map.

There are a lot of players involved in these individual greenway projects, but given some master planning that has already been done for the Westerly Creek corridor, (by the Urban Drainage & Flood Control District, Aurora, and Denver), the six individual projects can be woven together into a cohesive watershed-based greenway system. If you value that outcome, help make it happen. Tell your neighbors and tell City Council.

See you on the trail.

Brian Hyde is an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration. He wants your feedback at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039.