A rendering shows a preliminary design for the Colorado 150 Pedestrian Walkway, a planned bridge connecting the Colorado State Capitol to Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park.
Courtesy of Studio Gang
Gov. Jared Polis says the state of Colorado will absolutely not build a pedestrian bridge over Lincoln Street, between the Capitol and Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park.
Polis first floated the idea for such a structure last year, saying it would help with pedestrian safety and celebrate the state’s 150th birthday. (We had a few ideas for the design.)
But after he revealed designs for the long, looping walkway, the governor faced growing opposition to the idea. Historic Denver released a scathing letter demanding the “useless” plan be called off. A coalition of veterans groups called the idea “unnecessary and disrespectful.”
So, Polis decided to take an informal online poll. And he spoke with our colleague, Colorado Matters Host Ryan Warner, to share the results.
Hear Ryan Warner’s conversation with Gov. Jared Polis
‘Overwhelmingly, people do not want a walkway,’ Polis said.
The poll received 87,000 votes, though we’re not sure if that was necessarily 87,000 individuals. If the poll was spammed by haters, they worked hard to get their message across.
“Ninety-three percent do not want the bridge at the Capitol,” Polis told Warner. “So to me, that is a very clear message, and I’m going to commit myself to opposing this and making sure it doesn’t move forward.”
Polis said he would go to great lengths to ensure his own proposal didn’t come to fruition.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this doesn’t proceed. I said I’ll chain myself to the Capitol plaza if needed, to prevent construction of the walkway. There will not be a walkway so long as I’m governor,” he said.
Warner pointed out that Polis would be defending the Capitol from his own idea.
“Governor, governor, governor, the only person you would chain yourself to oppose is your previous self,” he said.
“I will stop those bulldozers if I have to do it in person,” Polis responded.
“But they were your bulldozers,” Warner said.
“I didn’t have any bulldozers,” the governor replied, adding that this wasn’t necessarily just his idea.
“Obviously this is something that’s been talked about since Mayor Federico Peña,” Polis said. “There’s been always talk about a Capitol walkway. This is probably the closest it’s ever come. But no, I’m excited to make sure that I can deliver on ensuring that there is no walkway.”
He added: “It’s certainly easier for us to not build a bridge, than build a bridge, in many ways.”
He compared this moment to one early in his tenure as governor, when he decided not to blow up a boulder that had fallen on a roadway. The state instead rebuilt the road around the giant rock.
“Two things that were very easy to deliver on: We’re not moving a huge boulder and not building a walkway,” Polis said.
Polis said the state had spent about $1 million for early designs and other work on the proposal, though he hoped the state could reuse some of the ideas it generated elsewhere.
One major critic was glad to hear it.
John Deffenbaugh, the CEO of Historic Denver, penned the critical letter before Polis issued the online poll. He was delighted to learn about the governor’s dedication to not build the bridge.
“Historic Denver welcomes the Governor’s decision not to proceed with the planned bridge over Lincoln Street. Civic Center is one of the most historic spaces in the city, being both a local Historic District and the only National Historic Landmark within the city limits,” he wrote us. “It has been heartening to see the public reaction in recent weeks.”
But Deffenbaugh was still looking forward to Colorado’s sesquicentennial, hopeful that we’d find other ways to honor the occasion.
“We hope that attention can shift to celebrating Colorado’s 150th anniversary next year, and that this can involve the activation and reinvigoration of Civic Center at ground level,” he said.
Polis, too, is excited to move to a more popular project. He said his poll also showed that people are excited for the anniversary, which coincides with the nation’s 250th birthday.
“We’re very excited with this big 250th birthday [for the U.S.], a quarter of a millennia, coming up next year,” he told Warner. “We’re also going to make sure that our own birthday, like the kid with a birthday on Christmas, is not forgotten.”
Source link
