New segment of Clear Creek Canyon trail could open by Labor Day

Runners walkers cyclists and even families with baby strollers have been waiting more than three years for the next segment of the popular Peaks to Plains trail in Clear Creek Canyon to open It will only be a limited more months now Project planners say they expect to open the next miles of trail by December and they are hoping to open it much sooner Chances are we will construction manager Jeffrey Hoge stated last week while providing a construction tour If things align Labor Day would be great Since August the trail has ended just past Tunnel on U S a mile and a half west of that highway s intersection with Colorado Highway and Colorado The Peaks to Plains trail features rock walls towering feet over rushing creek rapids and it attracts hundreds of visitors on weekends Often they pause at a chain link fence marking the current terminus openly wondering when the next section will open That segment is part of an -million project funded primarily by Jefferson County Open Space with help from Great Outdoors Colorado and the Denver Regional Council of Governments to extend the trail three miles from its current terminus Another -mile section much of which is already in an advanced stage of construction is expected to open in and preliminary plans have begun to extend the trail yet another six miles up the canyon by Weekday motorists in the canyon are at this time encountering alternating single-lane closures to accommodate construction activity The primary focus of construction work last week was just past Tunnel where workers poured adobe-colored concrete from a truck-mounted concrete pump parked in the eastbound lane of U S The pump sent wet concrete through boom arms about feet up and over the creek so it could be poured on the path of the trail Concrete is pumped across the creek onto the new trail of Clear Creek Canyon Park on the west side of Tunnel on US- in Golden Colorado on Friday May Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post That s a long reach for a concrete pump Hoge revealed Meanwhile an excavator on crawling treads used a massive bucket to move boulders restoring the creek and its banks to the way they appeared before trail construction At one point the excavator was chained to a front-end loader providing an anchor from above so it wouldn t fall down the -degree slope where it was working Workers are also removing dangerous obstacles in that section of the creek which has rapids that attract kayakers Several of them were things that predated the trail construction including hunks of rebar a concrete road barrier that apparently had been in the creek for multiple years and an assortment of shopping carts Construction continues on one of two new trailheads being built in Jefferson County s Clear Creek Canyon Park on the west side of Tunnel on US- in Golden Colorado on Friday May Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post As we put it back to its natural state we re also cleaning it up making it safer Hoge explained It will be like we weren t even here That s the idea Part of the aesthetics is that it s supposed to look like this trail has been here for a long time Just upstream two -foot bridges have been installed which will take the trail across the creek to the north bank The segment opening this year will terminate at a new trailhead which still requirements to be finished Related Articles A new open space gem Gateway segment of Peaks to Plains trail opens in Clear Creek Canyon million Clear Creek Canyon project includes miles of trail bridges and a feat of engineering We need to build a few walls and do specific concrete work Jeffco Open Space project management supervisor Scot Grossman explained of the new as-yet-unnamed trailhead A big wall requirements to go in between the road and the trailhead We need to pave it build a restroom and a kiosk In the three miles of trail upstream from Tunnel there are five elevated sections similar to the viaducts in Glenwood Canyon but smaller since they will only accommodate foot traffic and bicycles The section of viaduct just upstream from Tunnel the last of the five to be built is awaiting concrete pouring and pedestrian railings The other four viaducts including those in the section of trail that will open in are finished except for the installation of pedestrian railings We have a couple of bridges to put in and a bunch of other stuff Hoge reported but we should be good for Subscribe to our weekly newsletter The Adventurist to get outdoors news sent straight to your inbox