Northeast Park Hill Community Weighs In on 303 ArtWay Heritage Trail
The 303 ArtWay Heritage Trail is a future four-mile bike and pedestrian loop connecting RTD’s A-Line Commuter Rail Station with Holly Square in Northeast Park Hill. The trail will feature art and installations that highlight the visionaries, artists, leaders, and community activists who have brought so much life to this historically unique and diverse neighborhood, all while increasing safety and connectivity throughout the community .
As a community-driven initiative, 303 ArtWay has worked to engage, encourage, and stimulate local neighborhood leadership. With this in mind, the 303 ArtWay team has prioritized supporting residents and community organizers by attending and presenting at monthly Northeast Park Hill Coalition meetings, presenting at two health and mobility-focused conferences, hosting an I Am Denver Storytelling Event, and forming a Steering Committee of local stakeholders.
In March of 2019, the 303 ArtWay team hosted three community walk audits with Walk2Connect to gauge what improvements needed to be prioritized. In October of 2019, 303 ArtWay launched a 12 member steering committee representing neighborhood residents, business owners, City of Denver staff, and community organizations. The Steering Committee supported the creation of the 303 ArtWay Corridor Study to gather feedback and set goals with community input. As 303 ArtWay’s planning and design phase took shape, the Steering Committee made it apparent that the initial focus should be on safety and infrastructure improvements as opposed to immediate art and signage installation.
With the help of the Steering Committee and local community organizations, a community priority survey was distributed in March of 2020 using multiple avenues including email, social media, newsletters, and word of mouth. This tactic replaced two planned community engagement events due to COVID-19 stay-at-home measures. During the span of one week, 38 people completed the survey. The information gathered will be used to inform the design and engineering of specific projects along the route. Additionally, this information will be shared with departments and programs within the City and County of Denver, which will partner with the 303 ArtWay team to implement applicable projects in the neighborhood.
The top four improvements respondents would like to see in the neighborhood according to the survey are as follows: add sidewalks where they are missing, improve lighting, improve street crossings, and add historical monumentation and art installations. See below for the full results of the survey.