Sidewalks At Last

City Announces Plan For Walkways Along Quebec and 17th Avenue. Some Are Excited, Others Criticize 5 To 8-Foot Wide Concrete Paths As ‘Overkill’

By Cara DeGette

Editor, GPHN

In March, Denver officials rolled out a $2 million project to build 2.1 miles of concrete sidewalks in an area that has long challenged anyone trying to walk or roll through southeast Park Hill.

The project involves building the sidewalks on both sides of Quebec Street between 12th Avenue and Montview Boulevard. Additional sidewalks would stretch along 17th Avenue between Monaco and Rosemary streets.

Like much of the rest of Park Hill, both areas have stretches of inconsistent and nonexistent sidewalks, making pedestrian and wheelchair access difficult and, at times dangerous.

Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) officials presented the details of the project and its timeline during a March 8 Zoom meeting designed for residents living nearby.

In addition to the sidewalks, DOTI also plans to install ADA-compliant ramps, improve five transit stops along Quebec Street, and upgrade the traffic signal at Quebec and 17th Avenue.

The announcement has been met with some initial community support, but for several property owners who live along the route, the devil is emerging in the details of the project.

To wit: Several property owners are none too pleased at the sheer breadth of the design plans — the term they use is “overkill.”

Along Quebec, the new sidewalks are currently planned to be eight feet wide, in addition to another five feet the city will take for a hell strip between the street and the sidewalk.

Design Manager Dave Duszak said the sidewalks along both sides of 17th Avenue will be five feet wide, with an additional five feet taken for a hell strip. (Five-foot wide sidewalks are the current city standard; it is unclear why DOTI officials have opted to pursue eight-foot wide sidewalks on Quebec Street.)

“We’re doing our very best to design around and [not impact] trees,” Duszak said during the Zoom presentation. “We want to minimize impacts to trees and landscaping.”

‘I go across the street and I’m in mud’

Nancy Steinfurth, who lives on the west side of Quebec between 16th and 17th avenues, says she supports installing sidewalks to make them wheelchair accessible, but she questions the inconsistencies.

“I put little flags out that measured five feet for a [hell] strip and then eight feet deep for a sidewalk in front of my house, and it comes pretty far into my yard — it is the right-of-way but it’s shocking,” she said.

Two blocks away from Steinfurth’s house, the sidewalk in front of the Burger King on Colfax is six feet wide — two feet less than what she’ll have running through her residential front yard. The two streets that run east-to-west nearest to her house will still have no sidewalks, That is the case for much of the surrounding area, where sidewalks are narrow, nonexistent or plain dirt pathways.

“The sidewalk in front of my house will be wider than the sidewalk in front of Burger King — how crazy is that?” Steinfurth said.

“I fully support people in wheelchairs getting to the bus station, however this makes no sense,” she said. “Why are we doing this if we are only doing a tiny portion? If I am in a wheelchair and I’m riding along 17th or Quebec, I cross to the next street and I’m in mud, so what’s the point?”

In addition, Steinfurth said she and many of her neighbors are concerned about the impacts on their landscaping, including the number of trees, bushes and foliage that will be removed, and concerns over the likelihood of increased trash and graffiti. “We are all engaged, aware and responsible professional people and we’re all outraged.”

Another source of discord is the way neighbors were notified — or not notified — about the upcoming project. DOTI officials initially reached out to several organizations identified as “key stakeholders,” including schools, churches and business entities. However, property owners and residents who actually live along the route question why those “key stakeholders” have this special status.

More trees, please

Dana Hoffman, a community designer with DOTI, noted the project is in its initial roll-out, and officials plan to have regular interactions with impacted property owners throughout the process.

“We are in the concept design [phase],” Hoffman told neighbors on March 8. “One of the reasons is to listen and hear your concerns; there is the ability to have some small changes.”

Hoffman said that DOTI has allocated $2 million to the project and expects to have a final cost estimate this spring. Any additional funds would need city council approval. Construction is scheduled to begin late this year or in early 2023. The city will work directly with property owners throughout the process, Hoffman said.

Two residents participating in the city’s March 8 presentation spoke up in support of the project, including Leslie Twarogowski, who lives nearby.

“I’m very excited and thankful these sidewalks are coming through, because we’ve been asking for these for literally decades,” said Twarogowski, an at-large representative for Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.

Twarogowski included three “asks” of the city during her comments:

• That DOTI officials actively involve a city forester in the project and educate neighbors about the city’s free tree program — “especially for people who will have to have their trees removed.”

• That the city provide sheltered bus stops with trash cans — not just the concrete pads currently outlined in the plan.

• That the city work to eventually install left turn lanes and signals on 17th Avenue heading east and west at Quebec Street.

DOTI officials plan to present the sidewalk plan and answer questions during the Thursday, April 7 Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. neighborhood monthly meeting. The meeting, held via Zoom, can be accessed at this link: greaterparkhill.org/join-us/community-meetings/. It is free and open to the public.

 

Squeezing The Traffic Through

A Brief History Of The Quebec Street Bottleneck

The eight-block stretch of Quebec Street from 12th Avenue to Montview Boulevard has long been a source of intrigue, inspiration and inaction.

In the mid-1990s, Lowry began to be developed as a residential neighborhood south of Park Hill. Construction of the Stapleton neighborhood (now Central Park) began in 2001. As these two massive neighborhoods took shape, Quebec Street — the western corridor that connects the two new infill projects — was widened to  four lanes. With one notable exception.

The eight-block stretch between 12th Avenue and Montview Boulevard remains a two-lane road, snarling traffic and creating a bottleneck. Most of the stretch lacks sidewalks on each side.

City officials have long tried to lasso a solution. One long-simmering idea was that the city would purchase the residential properties on the east side of Quebec to make room to widen the roadway. Several mayors later, the city decided the cost to do that was prohibitive.

Over the years other possibilities have been batted around — one was to make Quebec a one-way street, and Syracuse Street just east of Quebec a one-way street flowing the other direction. Adding turn lanes on Quebec to help with traffic has also been considered. Ultimately all these ideas were rejected.

And, while all were being considered, the upshot was, still no sidewalks. That brings us to 2022, and the plan now being rolled out.

— Cara DeGette

Resources And Links

• Learn more about the project details, and sign up to receive regular updates at
bit.ly/quebec17thsidewalks

• The Sidewalk Gap Construction Hotline is 720-460-9055.

• Questions and comments email: quebec17thsidewalks@denvergov.org