Greeley hopes to have 16th Street improvements underway by 2024

GREELEY — As the city looks to improve traffic and pedestrian safety in its busiest areas, improvements to the 16th Street corridor between Seventh Avenue and 11th Avenue could be underway as early as 2024.

That was the goal set out by public works staff in a city council work session this week. In a presentation to the council, public works director Paul Trombino said the aim of the project is to calm traffic, improve pedestrian safety, add more landscaping and increase the connection between the University of Northern Colorado and downtown Greeley — all while preserving as much parking as possible. 

Currently, the stretch of 16th Street between Seventh and 11th avenues is a four-lane road with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour. It sees about 250 pedestrian crossings and 12,000 vehicle trips per day, Trombino said, with about 60% of cars exceeding the speed limit. That part of the corridor has seen 158 crashes over the past five years, a number Trombino said is very high.

“That’s a good indication that something’s happening on the corridor that we really need to take a look at,” Trombino said. 

Since the end of 2021, public works staff has engaged with Greeley community members, UNC students and faculty and 16th Street business owners about what they’d most like to see out of an improved 16th Street.

The preferred plan that emerged from those sessions calls for replacing the diagonal parking along 16th Street with center parking, widening the sidewalks and intersections, installing more trees and landscaping, as well as replacing the traffic lights at Ninth and 10th avenues with roundabouts. 

Trombino said the project is projected to cost about $5 million, $2 million of which will come from a Colorado Department of Transportation grant. A final design for the project will be finalized in 2023, with construction starting and finishing in 2024.

Bianca Fisher, the director of the Greeley Downtown Development Authority, said the project will increase the bond between downtown and UNC, the city’s two main economic centers. 

“As we look to strengthen the connection and partnership with UNC, I think this will be a great, key part of that,” Fisher said.

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