The sewer work has closed the trail through Douglas Creek Open Space and slowed or stopped traffic on Holland Park Boulevard at the trail crossing since the second week in May.
If plans work out as public officials now envision, a Parks contractor will pave the trail as soon as Utilities finishes; afterward, tentatively in July, the same contractor will install City Planning's “traffic calming” structures and the final pavement overlay at the boulevard's intersection with the trail crossing.
A final schedule has not yet been worked out, but a staff meeting to do so should occur within a few days, according to Kristin Bennett of Planning.
Another involved department is City Traffic Engineering, which is drawing up the final traffic calming designs. These include bump-outs and other narrowing structures intended to mitigate a problem with speeders on Holland Park Boulevard between Vondelpark Drive and Forest Hill Road.
Holland Park is actually only fifth on the citywide traffic calming priority list, but doing it in conjunction with the other projects would make sense from an efficiency standpoint, according to Bennett; Jeff Haley, trails planner for City Parks; and Dennis Auge, project manager for Utilities.
Public officials are also aware of the classic stereotype of one crew tearing up an area and repaving it, only to have another come in shortly thereafter to tear it up again. “Our goal is to minimize redoing other people's stuff,” Bennett said.
A fourth city entity has even gotten involved. City Stormwater crews came in this week (avoiding the Utilities work) and removed all or parts of several fallen trees that had clogged Douglas Creek in places and caused occasional flooding problems. They had been informed of the concern by the Holland Park Community Association, a volunteer group that represents the neighborhood.
Cynthia McGrath, an association officer, said she was happy to see the removal taking place, as well as the other improvements.
The trail is temporarily closed between Chestnut Street and a manhole several hundred feet west of Holland Park Boulevard. From there, the 24-inch-wide sewer-line replacement goes east roughly 2,800 feet, crossing the boulevard and paralleling Douglas Creek. The job was needed as part of a Utilities policy to eliminate wastewater lines crossing creeks; previously, this section of sewer line had crossed Dougas Creek in three places.
Auge said his contractor's work, which also included installing four new manholes, should be completed by mid-June. That's when Haley said he will have his contractor start the trail paving, coming up from Chestnut.
Using the same paving contractor for the traffic calming “will save time and effort” for the city as a whole, Bennett noted.
The intra-government coordination efforts have flowed out of regular meetings between city departments and Springs Utilities (a city enterprise), during which upcoming projects by different entities get discussed, officials said.
Westside Pioneer article