Guest Commentary by Pam Jiner
Christmas came a little early this year when I received one of the best presents of my life from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Kiewit – brand new sidewalks on Peoria Street under I-70! You just don’t know how happy and grateful I am feeling right now. Three years ago, I was trained by GirlTrek to advocate for walkable communities. With the support of partners like WalkDenver, Walk2Connect, and Our Voice, I learned how to conduct walking audits that engage community, city, state and federal decision-makers to come together and solve pedestrian-related concerns.
Since then, I’ve walked along Peoria and I-70 over a hundred times talking with people, groups, and organizations about the Montbello community’s need for sidewalks – and now they are finally being installed! Over a mile of fresh cement will line Peoria Street on both sides and Kiewit shared plans for adding landscaping that will help create a welcoming gateway connecting our neighborhood to the rest of Denver.
Montbello has waited 53 years for this and it feels like the vision for a healthy community with more freedom to travel is finally starting to come true. I know there is still more work to do: now that the CDOT portion of these sidewalks is being installed, the City & County of Denver will need to fill in the gaps along Peoria. I have been actively participating in the City’s Peoria Street Multimodal Improvements project that will do just that over the next few years. But for now, I would like to express my immense gratitude to the workers, community members, and partners for all their hard work by hosting a Community Sidewalk Celebration this Friday, December 20, from 12:00 – 2:00 pm on the northwest side of the I-70/Peoria interchange in the Tony Roma’s parking lot. Join Montbello Walks and Montbello 20/20 for food and fun!