{"id":1313014,"date":"2019-07-30T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T02:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=985175"},"modified":"2019-07-31T09:49:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T15:49:43","slug":"some-question-whether-7th-street-should-reopen-to-vehicles-after-beautification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/some-question-whether-7th-street-should-reopen-to-vehicles-after-beautification\/","title":{"rendered":"Some question whether 7th Street should reopen to vehicles after beautification"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.4365325077399\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-985175-121\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/7thstreetclose-gpi-073119-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/7thstreetclose-gpi-073119-1024x656.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Crews continue laying bricks along Seventh Street in Glenwood Springs on Monday afternoon as part of the city's\" festival beautification project. some city council members are now questioning whether the street should be reopened to regular vehicle class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Crews continue laying bricks along Seventh Street in Glenwood Springs on Monday afternoon as part of the city&#8217;s &#8220;festival street&#8221; beautification project. Some City Council members are now questioning whether the street should be reopened to regular vehicle traffic<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/7thstreetclose-gpi-073119-1024x656.jpg\" alt=\"Crews continue laying bricks along Seventh Street in Glenwood Springs on Monday afternoon as part of the city's \" festival beautification project. some city council members are now questioning whether the street should be reopened to regular vehicle><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/some-question-whether-7th-street-should-reopen-to-vehicles-after-beautification\/?#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/some-question-whether-7th-street-should-reopen-to-vehicles-after-beautification\/?#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After spending nearly $2.3 million on Seventh Street beautification, the question of whether or not the billed \u201cfestival street\u201d should reopen to vehicles has surfaced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my opinion the answer is absolutely no,\u201d Councilor Steve Davis said. \u201cThe area along restaurant row is shaping up to be a beautiful amenity for the citizens and visitors in Glenwood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aside from emergency and special-event vendor vehicle access, Davis envisions a pedestrian-oriented, family-friendly area free of cars along Seventh between Colorado and Cooper avenues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere would be no design or detail changes [needed] to close this area to traffic,\u201d Davis said of the ongoing work, which contractor Gould Construction expects to complete sometime in August.<\/p>\n<p>Councilor Rick Voorhees, like Davis, also favored having Seventh Street closed to traffic once the project was finished.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve spent much time and energy making it a place to spend relaxing time as a regional festival street and an expanded restaurant row. Allowing private automobiles and motorcycles only detracts from that,\u201d Voorhees said.<\/p>\n<p>Voorhees contended that the connection from Eighth Street to Midland Avenue had alleviated past concerns about connectivity in the downtown core. As a result, eliminating traffic on Seventh Street would be reasonable, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI favor closing it,\u201d Voorhees said.<\/p>\n<p>Not yet on City Council when the project\u2019s first three phases of work were awarded, Councilor Paula Stepp called the design \u201cbeautiful,\u201d but believes too much money was spent on it.<\/p>\n<p>In January, City Council awarded Gould Construction the project\u2019s first three phases of work. Phase 1, which included sanitary sewer work, carried with it a price tag of $655,116. The additional two \u201cbeautification\u201d phases, combined, cost approximately $1.6 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColored cement would have worked better for a driving surface and maintenance, especially when you start snow plowing [Seventh] Street,\u201d Stepp said.<\/p>\n<p>Her concern about maintenance costs has Stepp leaning on the side of keeping the two-block stretch of Seventh Street closed to traffic, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI realize the inconvenience, but I believe it will save us maintenance costs in the long run if we don\u2019t allow driving,\u201d Stepp said.<\/p>\n<p>Several downtown business owners either could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday or declined to comment on the record about whether they thought that Seventh Street should reopen to vehicle traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Jonathan Godes and Councilor Charlie Willman both wanted to hear from those downtown businesses before commenting either for or against the question at hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do know that there is much conversation in the community on this topic currently, and it is not something that the current council has had a discussion on yet,\u201d Godes said. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t want to do is open it up to vehicular use upon completion, and then shut that use down a year later after the community has adjusted their travel patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One travel pattern that concerned Willman, should Seventh Street reopen to vehicles, was the potential for increased traffic on Blake Avenue. Seventh connects to Blake to on the northeast side of downtown, near the Hotel Denver and the Amtrak train station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny continued closure would have to be a council decision after getting input from Seventh Street businesses and those on Cooper,\u201d Willman said. \u201cI would be happy to engage in that discussion, including ways to limit increased traffic on Blake if traffic increases after Seventh [Street] is opened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilor Tony Hershey and Mayor Pro Tem Shelley Kaup both favored reopening Seventh Street to vehicles, with possible closures on weekends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs to reopen for deliveries at the very least,\u201d Hershey said. \u201cI am open to a limited closure on weekends \u2026 but otherwise it should be open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kaup, also citing delivery accessibility as a key component to the conversation believed the street should \u201copen as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeventh Street is an important connection for locals to navigate across town, for local deliveries and access. I do not think the street should be closed full time,\u201d Kaup said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 Open the street as planned, be very strict on speeds and yielding to pedestrians and bicycles, and give it some time for the downtown to return to normal operations \u2014 parking and traffic flow \u2014 before making any hasty decision on full, permanent street closures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:mabennett@postindependent.com\">mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/some-question-whether-7th-street-should-reopen-to-vehicles-after-beautification\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crews continue laying bricks along Seventh Street in Glenwood Springs on Monday afternoon as part of the city&#8217;s &#8220;festival street&#8221; beautification project. Some City Council members are now questioning whether the street should be reopened to regular vehicle trafficChelsea Self \/ Post Independent Show CaptionsHide Captions After spending nearly $2.3 million on Seventh Street beautification, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 13:25:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313022,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313014\/revisions\/1313022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}