Arvada Celebrates Completion of Olde Town Pedestrian Street Closure And Phase One of Ralston Road Project
The City of Arvada, along with the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Olde Town Business Improvement District (BID) and the Arvada Resiliency Task Force invite the community to help celebrate the completion of several important projects in the Olde Town area.
Take part in Arvada’s largest ever ribbon-cutting celebration at 4 p.m. on Friday, October 15 by joining more than 150 other community members to hold a 2000 foot ribbon that will encircle Olde Town’s blocked off streets near the intersection of Grandview and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. This giant ribbon cutting marks the completion of the semi-permanent pedestrian area in Olde Town and the completion of Phase One of the Ralston Road Improvement Project.
Early in the pandemic, the City of Arvada worked with the Olde Town BID to temporarily close streets within Olde Town as part of its support to the local business community. The closures expanded patio dining and retail space to allow businesses the opportunity to safely serve more patrons. The response was largely favorable, and in the Spring of 2021, the City moved forward to make the pedestrian street closure semi-permanent with plans to beautify the area. Work included redoing crosswalks at key intersections, removing existing striping on roadways, and building new medians complete with traffic warriors and new planters. The Olde Town BID, in partnership with the Arvada Arts and Culture Commission, also installed three large street murals on the pedestrian street closure painted by muralists Chelsea Hart, Kailey Geary, and Talia Swartz Parsell. Learn more, https://arvada.org/explore/olde-town-arvada/olde-town-arvada
“The semi-permanent changes in Olde Town are consistent with the City’s overall response to the pandemic,” said Arvada Mayor Marc Williams. “By collaborating with our partners, by working decisively to address the needs of our business community and by learning from our experience during the pandemic, we make our community even stronger than it was before.
The completion of the Olde Town improvements coincides with the City’s completion of Phase One of the Ralston Road Reconstruction Project in July 2021. Phase One of this project reconstructed Ralston Road between Upham and Yukon Streets to address roadway, accessibility, pavement conditions, and needed aesthetic upgrades. Construction began in February 2020. Phase Two of this project, from Yukon to Garrison streets, commenced in June 2021 and will take approximately two years to complete. To learn more, visit Phase 1 Ralston Road. Learn more: https://arvada.org/about/news-events/press-releases/city-completes-ralston-road-phase-one-construction
About the Arvada Resiliency Taskforce As announcements of COVID-19 started to rattle communities across the America, organizations throughout Arvada, Colorado united together to create the Arvada Resiliency Taskforce. This taskforce supported efforts to understand the impact of COVID-19 closures and responded quickly with programs, resources and policy shifts including business surveying and comprehensive needs assessments, curation of local, state and federal resources and information, responsive programming to help maintain economic vitality and communication platforms to connect and inform businesses. A cross-section of local partners make up the https://www.arvadachamber.org/arvada-resiliency-taskforce/ including the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Arvada Economic Development Association, Arvada Visitor’s Center, City of Arvada, Olde Town Business Improvement District, Apex Parks and Recreation, Community First Foundation, Thrive Workplace and The Arvada Center.