Salida Awarded Grant for “Gateway to Downtown” Improvements

The City of Salida was recently awarded $2 million in grant funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation to add bike lanes and additional improvements to the Oak Street Corridor, the gateway to downtown Salida. 

The funding came through CDOT’s Revitalizing Main Streets program, a COVID-recovery fund intended to help communities across the state implement transportation-related projects to improve safety and yield long-term benefits to community main streets.

Salida’s proposal was one of just 16 that were selected out of 72 applications. The City had recently adopted the improvement plan, concluding a two-year planning process involving CDOT and City staff, consultants and the community of Salida to identify needs and solutions for the well-traveled stretch of highway.

“Now is a great time to pursue the work since the City and CDOT recently completed a planning effort for this corridor that included public input and involvement,” said David Lady, director of public works. “Having a plan in place helped to establish a competitive grant application that was fortunate to be awarded funding.”

The plan includes accommodations for Chaffee Shuttle fixed-route transit stops, a pedestrian walkway, pedestrian-scale lighting, landscaping and canopy trees, benches, crosswalks, managed vehicular access points, bike lanes in each direction, improved stormwater drainage, and transit pull-outs—features that will all contribute to increased safety and an improved experience of the corridor, regardless of transportation mode. 

In addition to the grant from CDOT, the City recently received $1M in additional funding through several grant programs that will be used to support Safe Route to School projects. These include a multi-use concrete sidewalk along Holman Avenue from Centennial Park to the Monarch Spur Trail, completing sidewalk from Holman Avenue to Walmart, a sidewalk at the location of the Stryker Trail next to the soccer fields and a pedestrian crossing for US-50 near H Street.

The design for this project is estimated to be completed in 2022, with construction starting in 2023.