The expansion of Central Park Blvd. and Stapleton Light Rail will be great for the Stapleton neighborhood.
Construction has commenced three major transportation projects in the Stapleton neighborhood.
One of the projects commencing in August will part of the FasTracks East Corridor Light Rail expansion which will be built along Smith Road. Specifically, the Stapleton Light Rail will be built along Smith Road, just west of Central Park Blvd. (called Central Park Station) and will run to DIA and to Downtown Denver’s Union Station. It will most likely be a “commuter rail” which means that it is diesel-electric rather than overhead electric power. The service is expected to start by the end of 2016 and could potentially open as soon as early 2015. The first step in the construction process will be to relocate some of the train tracks that run along Smith Road.
Stapletons Park 'n Ride Station formerly located on Martin Luther King Boulevard has recently moved to its new location on Smith Road just west of Central Park Boulevard. It is a new “multi modal” facility serving bus, auto, rail, bicycle and pedestrian transportation. Moving Stapletons Park n Ride will allow developers to tear down the old parking structure which is scheduled for demolition in 2011. This Park N Ride service from Stapleton to DIA will be terminated once the Stapleton Light Rail opens. 
The Stapleton Light Rail ride time from Central Park Station to DIA is expected to be 20 minutes and from Central Park Station to Union Station will be 15 minutes. This is going to be a fabulous addition to the Stapleton neighborhood and the Denver community as a whole as the daily parking rate at DIA continues to rise, traffic to DIA gets worse and the brown cloud continues to get browner. A second project has commenced which is the expansion of Central Park Boulevard from 36th Avenue to I-70 to Northfield. Stapleton will have a new front door allowing easy access off I-70 into the central parts of the neighborhood. This is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2011.
Park Creek Metropolitan District will be constructing the new project which will also include a new bridge at Sand Creek and Smith Road that will incorporate trail connections to the new Central Park Station and the Sand Creek Greenway.
This is great for all of us bikers and runners in Stapleton who have been waiting for a connection to get to Northfield.
The bridge over Sand Creek and the extension of Central Park Blvd. to Northfield is being funded by Forest City, the master developer for the Stapleton neighborhood, while the overpass, entrance and exit ramps to I-70 will be funded by some stimulus money from Obama. No longer will we Stapletonians have to commute to Northfield or I-70 via Quebec, which often gets bottlenecked at the entrance to the highway. This expansion will make access to and from the highway much easier as well as provide more business to the shops and restaurants at Northfield, which is currently hurting for Tenants due to lack of shoppers and the struggling commercial real estate market.
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