Ridgway is completing a two-season construction project funded in a partnership by Colorado Department of Transportation, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and Ridgway voters.
Voters passed a 2014 ballot initiative that increased property taxes and allowed the town to bond for the improvements, which include newly paved roads, enhanced sidewalks, street crossings, and several beautification features to the town’s historic business district.
Residents gave the initiative significant approval with 76 percent of the voters authorizing the bond for the project.
“The completion of this project is a historic milestone for Ridgway,” said John Clark, Ridgway mayor. “It completes the rebirth of our original downtown. It is hard to imagine that we began the planning process more than a decade ago, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”
The Colorado Highway 62 project includes storm drainage and traffic capacity enhancements to the state highway which runs directly through the town. Improvements within the footprint of the historic downtown include paved side roads, new sidewalks and improved storm drainage.
The project represents the first major downtown investment since the town’s inception in 1890. Work also includes aesthetic features such as benches, street lighting, artistic pedestrian light bollards, public art, decorative crosswalks and landscape.
The project began in April 2016. Installation of streetlights is scheduled for early October.