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Conifer trails group highlights adopted projects in transportation plan and progress on Meyer Ranch–Flying J connection
Summary
The Conifer Area Council Trails Study Action Team said elements of its 2009 master plan are now adopted in the county Transportation Mobility Plan; Jefferson County Parks staff reported recent progress building a trail segment behind King Soopers and active alignment work for a Meyer Ranch to Flying J trail connection.
Conifer trails advocates and county open-space staff said work is underway to connect Meyer Ranch Park and Flying J Ranch Park and to implement sidewalk and pathway projects included in Jefferson County’s Transportation Mobility Plan.
Peter Barkman, chairman of the Conifer Area Council Trails Study Action Team, said the team’s 2009 master plan informed the Together GEFCO transportation-mobility plan and that county staff incorporated many of the team’s proposed segments. Barkman said the TMP includes 23 projects in the Conifer area covering sidewalk gaps, pedestrian pathways, multimodal corridors and an intersection improvement; projects were ranked by multiple factors, including ability to match county funding.
Elizabeth Stoner, senior planner with Jefferson County Parks and Open Space, described the Meyer Ranch–Flying J trail connection in greater detail. She said crews are already constructing a segment that will link into the concrete path behind King Soopers and that the county is refining alignments for the portion through Meyer Ranch Park to avoid wet meadows. She said the project team is working with property owners, including Our Lady of the Pines and a large private landowner (Mark Bossman), and with Aspen Park Metro District, which holds an existing easement the planned trail will use.
Stoner said the most complex piece will be the highway crossing: county transportation and engineering staff have been supportive of an at-grade crossing with striping and flashing beacons, but the final crossing location is still preliminary and will likely be placed south of a roadway bend for safety. She said construction behind King Soopers is already visible and that work on the Meyer Ranch Park stretch is expected to begin next year.
Barkman said the trails team continues to pursue connections to Beaver Ranch and to identify ways to improve the community’s ability to match funding for county projects, noting Conifer lacks a local funding district that would raise the community’s project rankings.
