Enjoy Full-Length St. Vrain Greenway While You Can

For the first time in nearly six years, the St. Vrain Greenway in Longmont is completely open for it's full length from Golden Ponds (west) to Sandstone Ranch (east).  

Over the years, I've expressed my disappointment for the protracted Greenway closure in the central part of town, to City Council.  Reasons I've been given include delays by BNSF, the initial bids for the Boston Avenue Bridge rebuild were too high, the pandemic, and delays from the Feds (FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers).  On the other hand, I've praised the work (completed in 2018)  the City did for the Greenway rebuild at Sandstone, including the new bridge addition and reroute, and the new routing west of Main by the Dickens Farm Nature Area was well done. 

Unfortunately, the full Greenway opening will be short-lived.   The section from Boston Avenue to Sunset Street by the Isaak Walton Clubhouse is scheduled to be closed "Spring 2025" (does this mean May or June?)  and finished Fall 2026.  So, at least another 1.5 years of closure and there is another section of work to be done in the future.  Of interest is a bike lane and temporary sidewalk coming this summer along a portion of Boston Avenue for the detour (see below).  If you know Boston Avenue, it is poorly drained with sand and large water pools after a rain covering much of its shoulder, and it is also full of debris from industrial traffic. It has never been a usable detour especially for families or anyone on foot.   I'm very interested to see if the City comes through on this commitment and maintains the bike lane.

I'll go ahead and post the schedule here and we'll see if the Fall 2026 completion milestone is met:

On a Sunday Easter afternoon, I got out on the Greenway before it is closed again.  

The previous BNSF railroad bridge was identified as a major pinch point in water flow during the 2013 flood.   Here's the new one but did it really take two years to build (2019 to 2021)?

 

Here's a few pictures of the segment to be closed soon.  The dirt surface was temporary after the flood but nobody complains about it.  

And looking east from near the Isaak Walton Clubhouse:

 Get out there while you can. 

Revisiting St. Vrain Greenway to Sandstone Park after 4.8 years

Longmont's St. Vrain Greenway recently re-opened all the way east to Sandstone Ranch, after being closed for 4.8 years due to damage from the 2013 flood.  Finally got back out there on the bike today to check it out. 

Before the flood, the Greenway to Sandstone was a popular bike ride and hike, especially on weekends. But it's been fenced off first at County Road 1 right after the flood and then in 2015, it was extended 1/2 mile east of CR1 for a few more years.

This was the the previous eastern-most point.  The gate was closed and you can still see the leftover "No Trespassing" sign.   Gate is open now!

  
The wetland marsh still exists north of the Greenway as you go toward Sandstone:

The powerful 2013 flood created a new channel of the St. Vrain river out here.  It was decided by the engineers and planners just to leave it as nature carved it out in the flood vs. trying to put the river back in it's pre-2013 shape.  One reason I heard at a city open house was that wildlife had already adopted the new wetlands created by the river split.  A new double-bridge was added over the new channel, kind of hard to see in this picture:

The smaller 2009 bridge remains over the original flow of the river as you cross into Sandstone Ranch:

I saw some wild turkeys after crossing the bridge into the park:

The cliffs at Sandstone:

I was glad to see my old favorite gravel road still there, going in front of the cliffs to the east and then up the hill.  It's in rougher shape than I remember it with lots of loose sand.   I wouldn't try it on skinny bike tires:

The view from the lookout point situated on top of the cliffs:

Hard to believe it's been over 1768 days since I've been able to ride the Greenway to Sandstone.  Very glad it's back.

St. Vrain Greenway east of Main

Seeing the new Sunset Avenue bridge, a visitor asked me the other day if all the damage from the 2013 flood has been repaired. 

Among other things I told him, the popular Pella Crossing park and open space has still not re-opened and the St. Vrain Greenway won't be finished out to Sandstone Ranch until next year (2017) at the earliest (a new long bridge is needed to cross the much-widened river out there.)

Speaking of the St. Vrain Greenway, east of Main, the "bridge to nowhere" still stands:

And the Greenway is being totally rebuilt under Main (looking east):

 

New Kanemoto Park Pool Opens Today

Lifeguards test the water at the new Kanemoto Park Pool before the grand-opening today.

By my hasty calculation, it's been 1013 days since it was last open (August 2013).

Other posts about the pool:

•  One More Round of Flood Pictures (2013)
•  Kanemoto Park Pool Is All Gone Now (2014)
•  Splash Pad Replacement For Kanemoto Park Pool? (2014)
• Kanemoto Park Playground (2015)
• New Kanemoto Park Pool is Poured (2015)
• Kanemoto Park Pool Appears New Completion (2015)
• Missouri Avenue in Longmont:  Pre and Post Restoration (2016)

New lawn for Kanemoto Park

Earlier this year I mentioned the beat-up grounds of Kanemoto Park after three years of various mostly-2013 flood reconstruction projects.  

The park lawn has been recently been completely plowed and will be re-seeded:

 
You can't read the sign on the right below but it says that the park is closed until July but that the playground is still accessible throughout the turf restoration period, and that the new pool will open at the end of May:

 

Tower of Compassion Pagoda Renovation Starts Today

The perimeter fence went up today (MLK Day 2016) marking the start of the renovation of the weathered but treasured Tower of Compassion pagoda in Kanemoto Park, Longmont.

I mentioned last week that construction activity should be winding up in Kanemoto Park but I forgot about this project which was mentioned on a sign in the park that I saw over the summer.

The pagoda is getting a new roof, among other things and the roofing contractor told me that 45 days is the estimated time of completion, weather permitting.  If you're interested in seeing details of the full project, including the new railings, repair of the base of the torii gate, and a modern LED lighting system, checkout the RFP (PDF, 6.9MB).

Readers here know that I like "before and after" pictures (and in-between ones too), so here's some more Day One pictures:

Other articles on the Tower of Compassion:

• Pagoda at Kanemoto Park, Longmont (2008)
• New Tree Cluster at Kanemoto Park (2009)
• Jimmy Kanemoto Cherry Tree Grove Dedication (2010)

Missouri Avenue in Longmont: Pre and Post Restoration

Missouri Avenue in Longmont, post-flood condition in 2014 before the area was restored.  A few things to notice:

• the severely-damaged Kanemoto Park pool, which was practically hanging over Left Hand Creek
• the heavily eroded banks of the creek
• the old playground

The latest view (Google Earth in January 2016, probably captured in late summer 2015) showing both the completed creek bank restoration project and the rebuilt pool:

The new pool is built further back from the creek, on the grounds of the old playground (the new playground being constructed to the left of the pool complex and to the right of the volleyball court.  For comparison purposes, both of the surrounding pool buildings were retained in their original locations.  You can also see that creek banks have been restored with who- knows-how-many thousand of tons of dirt that was trucked in.

The park is not as green as it was two  years ago, likely from getting beaten up from all of the construction projects going on.  2016 should be back to normal.

Both images courtesy of Google Earth.

Thompson Park and the Emerald Ash Borer

Have you seen the trees in Thompson Park that have been wrapped with a green ribbon?  Unfortunately, these are Green Ash trees that have been designated as vulnerable to the imminent arrival of the emerald ash borer beetle. Green Ashes are everywhere in the park; I roughly counted at least 25 green ribbons but I'm sure I missed a few.  The website mentioned on the ribbon is eabcolorado.com

If the evil emerald ash borer wins, Thompson Park won't look the same with its stately mature Green Ashes gone.

Putting aside the bad EAB news, it was a beautiful fall day at my favorite park:
 

  

 

Kanemoto Park Pool Appears Nears Completion

It's been two and a half months since the last Kanemoto Park pool update.  The pool is being rebuilt from scratch in a new location (the former park playground) after the September 2013 flood destroyed the original.

Continuing from the July 7 update where the pool was poured, it looked like this a month later in August:

Another month later, on  September 20, the perimeter fence started going up and the "pool furniture" was being installed:

And then from today, September 25, the fence is mostly complete and the pool looks like it is being readied for winter.  Spring looks like the first time it will hold water.

Still some fencing to do near the entrance on the south side:

Bike racks, yes!

Work has appeared to move on to build the replacement playground just west of the pool:

 

New Kanemoto Park Pool is Poured

The new pool at Kanemoto Park is poured.  From the labeling on the side of the pool, it looks like it goes up to four feet deep.

A lot of progress since early April:

Kanemoto Park Playground

Farewell to the longstanding playground at Kanemoto Park.  It's fenced off now as it becomes the new site of the pool that was clobbered by the flood of 2013:

Timing for the completion of the new pool has it finishing in late August, right around when it normally closes for the year.  I hope they can keep it open a few weeks longer for 2015.

The playground will be relocated, closer to the existing volleyball court area.  

A few more looks.  I'll post pictures of progress throughout the summer.   

December 2014

December 2014

Kanemoto Park Bridge Update

A heavy-duty crane was brought back to the neighborhood yesterday, I'm assuming it will be used to put the Kanemoto Park pedestrian bridge back over Lefthand Creek.

 

 

Backing up a bit, I wasn't sure back in May if the bridge was going to be preserved but yes, it was, they lifted it away so that the destroyed anchoring/foundation could be rebuilt.

Here's what it looked like on June 2, with the bridge moved aside.  You can see the flood-damaged foundation on the other side of the creek.
 

Back to today (August 3)

In addition to the bridge repair, a lot of work has been done to rebuild the creek banks in this area.  For many days in June and July, there was a steady express of  trucks that were hauling dirt, gravel, and sand from Weld County.

The sidelined bridge set to be back in action soon, after almost a year of being out of operation.