A trail to somewhere

By DAN WEST

Dan.West@gjsentinel.com

One Riverfront and Mesa County have partnered to create a plan that would finally connect Riverbend Park in Palisade to the Riverfront Trail in Clifton, but not along the river.

The two groups are developing a feasibility study looking at alternate routes for a bike path or bike lanes that would connect the end of the Clifton section of trail at 33 ½ Road to the Riverbend section, which ends at 36 ¼ Road, incoming co-chair of the One Riverfront Board of Directors David Varner said.

“We’re looking at potential inland options — inland being not along the river,” Varner said. “Kind of like the trail from Grand Junction to Fruita where there are parts where it is along the frontage road and not along the river.”

Eventually Varner said a trail along the river between the two sections is still the goal. However, that effort has stalled as some land owners were not amenable to allowing a trail across their property. In the meantime, Varner said One Riverfront and the County still want to see connectivity between the trail segments.

“There are a couple of different routes where it could be a bike lane attached to the road or a separate bike path, a detached path,” Varner said. “We’re working with the county and we’ve got a grant to do that feasibility study. It should be done by December.”

The purpose of the feasibility study is to identify route options and the costs involved, Varner said. One obvious route would be along Highway 6, but there are some right of way and utilities issues that could make that route not cost efficient.

Another route could be to the north of Highway 6 across the train tracks, Varner said. This would take the trail well away from the river and may zig zag along less trafficked roads to make the connection, he said.

Another possible route would follow the Grand Valley Canal, but that has challenges as well, Varner said. There is a section of road along the canal that allows public access in that area, but Varner said another section may require private landowners to agree to allow a path through. Canal operators have also raised safety concerns around allowing paths next to canals.

Varner said they are keeping an open mind on the potential routes, but that he wants to see a connection sooner rather than later.

“We want to get this done in the next couple years,” Varner said. “We don’t want to have another decade go by without a trail to Palisade.”

One Riverfront is holding an event where participants will ride from Corn Lake to Palisade Brewing Company on June 15. The group will discuss the effort to connect the two sections. If you want to attend you can meet at Corn Lake at 5:15 p.m. or go to the brewery at 6:30 p.m.

OTHER CONNECTIONS

One Riverfront is also working on increasing the connectivity of the Riverfront Trail in other areas including to the Clifton Community Campus, which is currently under construction.

Varner said they are looking at ways to potentially connect that campus with both an east to west segment of path and a north to south connection creating a two

See TRAIL, page 3A ➤

People enjoy the Riverfront Trail along Las Colonias Park as a city of Grand Junction crew do maintenance. There is a new effort underway to connect the Clifton and Palisade portions of the trail.

Photos by SCOTT CRABTREE/ The Daily Sentinel

Bike riders heading toward the Las Colonias Amphitheater on the Riverfront Trail.

. Continued from page 1A

to three mile loop.

“We want to have a connection to the riverfront trail there so that those folks can easily access the river or bike to Grand Junction for instance or eventually to Palisade and vice versa,” Varner said.

A recent addition to the path is just east of Las Colonias park in front of the new Eddy apartment buildings. That extends the path east, but it still does not connect to the next segment at 29 Road.

“The Eddy part has been a big success,” Varner said. “We worked with the developer to establish the trail to head upstream from Las Colonias. To connect it to 29 (Road) is obviously the next goal there.”

The city of Grand Junction and Colorado Parks and Wildlife have led the effort in this area, Varner said. However, he said he has been told making this connection is moving in a positive direction.

One Riverfront kicked off its summer concert series Friday evening with a performance from Tab Benoit. The next concert will be Saturday, Aug. 12, and will feature The Bellamy Brothers.