Mr. Doss,
I have met with City staff regarding your observations. Below is the related background.
Sidewalk constructed through SCIP was constructed on the north side of Grover Street from South Blvd to the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (NSRR) right of way line. The SCIP sidewalk is back of curb to minimize impacts to an existing business's parking and circulation. Though not the ideal design, which would include a planting strip, the option chosen by the SCIP team provides acceptable width for pedestrians given that Grover has lower volumes and speeds.
There is a complex history regarding this pedestrian connection. A number of changes and deletions were made by CATS at the Tyvola station due to budget constraints. There was also substantial coordination issues with NSRR, which does not permit others to work within their right of way. Staff have been working with NSRR. NSRR will be adding a pedestrian asphalt crossing within the rail trackway limits by the end of the month. It is my understanding that once this is done, E&PM will work to complete the gap on the north side of Grover to make the complete connection to the station.
A sidewalk was not constructed on the south side of Grover because a network was being provided on the north side. There were also some constraints with existing parcels. However, it is evident that pedestrians are using both sides of Grover to access South Boulevard. CDOT's Sidewalk Program is planning to add this missing section (on the south side) as a project and will start planning and design.
Liz Babson and Scott Putnam are the lead CDOT staff who are working on an evaluation of the traffic signal request.
Please advise me or Jim Keenan (SCIP Program Manager) if you need additional information.
Thank you.
Vivian
