By Charles Pekow — The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Trails and Rocky Mountain Greenway Connections Project in Jefferson County, Colorado got final federal approval. Anyone who doesn’t like it can sue by January 8.
Attribution 2.0 Generic
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approved the project, which includes building trails with two bridges in the refuge and two road crossings with connecting trails outside it. The “Fish and Wildlife Service will construct the on-refuge trails, which will be part of the regional Rocky Mountain Greenway trail system. FHWA will construct the trail bridges on the refuge and the two road crossings and trails off the refuge. The two road crossings consist of an underpass (concrete box culvert) at State Highway 128 and a pedestrian bridge across Indiana Street with about .6 mile total of connecting trails” to avoid conflicts with autos, according to FHWA’s notice (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-10/html/2023-17151.htm).
The agencies hope to finish construction by winter 2025 as part of a plan to extend the Greenway through the refuge. The long-term goal is to extend the partially-completed Greenway east to connect the refuge to Denver by bike trail, and then to build trails north to connect the refuge north to Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park (https://www.jeffco.us/3639/Rocky-Mountain-Greenway).
