Agenda Date: 05/06/2025
Subject:
Title
Resolution 48-2025: Approving an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Littleton and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District regarding funding contributions, construction, and maintenance of the Lee Gulch Trail Pedestrian Underpass Project
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Brent Soderlin, Director of Public Works & Utilities |
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Brent Thompson, City Engineer |
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Sarah White, Water Resources Manager |
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Presentations: |
N/A |
PURPOSE:
Does city council support an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Littleton and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District regarding funding contributions, construction, and maintenance of the Lee Gulch Trail Pedestrian Underpass Project?
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Safe Community; High Quality Governance; Financial Sustainability
DISCUSSION:
The City of Littleton and key stakeholders identify and evaluate roadway and trail locations, that would benefit from crossing safety improvements including pedestrian underpasses. Pedestrian underpasses provide trail users with infrastructure to cross under and separate from activities along the roadway, removing safety and conflict issues between trail users and motorists that are typically presented at at-grade crossings. While pedestrian underpasses provide one of the most ideal safety and operational improvements for all modes of transportation by completely removing conflicts between motorists and trails users, underpass infrastructure and associated construction unfortunately present at a higher cost and are not feasible to implement at all desirable locations without adequate funding resources.
City Staff is currently evaluating emergency repair options for a failing culvert that conveys Lee Gulch under South Broadway. During this analysis, it was recognized that there is a unique opportunity to install a pedestrian underpass beneath South Broadway incidental to the culvert repair and associated major roadway excavation. Concurrently completing the culvert replacement and underpass construction maximizes the opportunity for cost- and resource-sharing during construction, which will result in a lower cost than is typical for underpass construction. Additionally, and most importantly, an underpass improves the safety for trail users, and in the case of this location, providing these improvements to trail users potentially decades earlier than when an underpass could be funded.
To prepare for and support the successful construction of an underpass at this trail crossing location, several key stakeholders have collaborated to identify funding and implementation resources to deliver the project. In addition to the City of Littleton, the project partners providing resources include Arapahoe County through the Arapahoe County Open Spaces (ACOS) program, Mile High Flood District (MHFD), and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District (SSPRD). The project is also supported by the High Line Canal Conservancy.
Funding and implementation resources from each of the stakeholder partners have recently been secured for the construction of the pedestrian underpass at the Lee Gulch Trail crossing of South Broadway. The action before City Council will authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Littleton and SSPRD to formalize the respective funding contributions and definition of the roles for each jurisdiction during construction of the underpass, including SSPRD’s role in maintaining the new underpass, trail, and bridge. The IGAs with the other project partners, Arapahoe County and MHFD, will be presented to council through separate IGA resolutions.
BACKGROUND:
The Lee Gulch Trail is an important component of the regional trail network, providing a 4.3 mile east-west connection between S. Clarkson Street in Centennial to the South Platte River/Mary Carter Greenway, and intersecting with the High Line Canal Trail just west of South Broadway in Littleton. The Lee Gulch Trail has approximately 92,000 annual users and provides access to multiple schools and parks, residential neighborhoods, commercial areas, and connections to the Mary Carter Greenway and High Line Canal Trail. Early master plans envisioned the Lee Gulch drainageway with a linear park and trail along the Gulch from the South Platte River to County line Road. Currently, the Lee Gulch Trail crosses South Broadway using an at-grade crosswalk at West Jamison Avenue, which requires trail users to detour approximately 1,800 feet (0.34 miles) along South Broadway before returning to the trail. This intersection also serves as the vehicular entrance to the emergency department at AdventHealth Littleton Hospital, which creates unpredictable and potentially unsafe conditions for pedestrians and cyclists crossing in this area. In addition to the vehicular and pedestrian interaction and activity at this intersection, it is also important to highlight the high traffic volume of an estimated 35,000 vehicles traveling daily along the South Broadway corridor. With the combination of high traffic volumes along South Broadway and an unsafe, high-use trail crossing at this intersection, many stakeholders have identified this trail crossing would greatly benefit from improvements.
In late 2024, the City of Littleton became aware of critical issues involving the culvert that conveys Lee Gulch under South Broadway. city staff, in partnership with MHFD, evaluated multiple design considerations, however it was determined the culvert repairs necessitate the full excavation of Broadway. Broadway also detains Lee Gulch floodwaters to the east and will overtop in large flood events. During concept design, city staff and design partners looked at alternative selections to alleviate the flood risk and identified the unique opportunity to install at 10-foot by 12-foot box culvert under South Broadway. Floodwalls will be installed to ensure the box culvert only conveys stormwater during large flood events (near 1% annual chance) and therefore can serve as a pedestrian underpass that would allow Lee Gulch Trail users to safely and efficiently cross under South Broadway to access the High Line Canal, Mary Carter Greenway Trails, and other area destinations. This rare opportunity to complete the underpass construction during the major roadway excavation for the culvert work presents several advantages including providing a safer crossing facility for trail users, cost sharing and savings between the two construction projects, as well as reduction in roadway impacts if the underpass was to be constructed separately as a future project. Additionally, completion of a trail crossing improvement of this significant scale and cost would not be feasible in the near-term without adequate funding resources.
In addition to the underpass, the project includes a 65-foot-long pedestrian bridge over Lee Gulch and associated trail amenities. The crossing, access, and trail improvements are supported by multiple City of Littleton and SSPRD plans that have identified the need to improve trail infrastructure and connectivity.
The culvert replacement work is planned to begin Spring 2025. All the work including the culvert replacement, construction of the underpass, and construction of the trail and bridge, is anticipated to be complete by October 2026. The City of Littleton, in coordination with MHFD is managing the construction of the culvert replacement work, trail, and pedestrian bridge. MHFD will be managing the construction of the underpass. Upon completion of the project, SSPRD will be responsible for the maintenance of the underpass, trail improvements, and new bridge.
All funding resources for the project have been secured and are outlined in the following Financial Impacts section. The IGA, specific to this resolution presented to City Council, between the City of Littleton and SSPRD capture the project funding contributions, jurisdiction roles during construction, and SSPRD’s maintenance role for the new infrastructure.
Prior Actions or Discussions
A pedestrian underpass of the Lee Gulch Trail under Broadway has been long envisioned and identified in a number of master plans for decades, including the following:
o 1978 SSPRD Master Plan, Littleton and Arapahoe County Land Use Plans
§ Envisioned linear park and multimodal trail along Lee Gulch from the South Platte River to County Line Road.
o 2019 Littleton Transportation Master Plan
§ Grade separated crossing identified.
o 2019 The Plan for the High Line Canal
§ Identifies this location as an “Opportunity Area”.
o 2023 Littleton Linkages Trail Study
§ Improve crossing, Lee Gulch underpass future consideration
Additional master plans referenced:
§ 2022 South Suburban Master Plan
§ Trails are the most requested priority for improvement.
§ Guiding Principle to “Connect Community” through close to home trails that contribute to quality of life.
§ 2024 Broadway Corridor Study
§ Identifies the objective to fully and safely connect the walking and biking network along the corridor.
§ 2025 Root and Renew Plan Draft Findings (Littleton’s Parks, Open Space, and Trails Vision Plan)
§ Identifies trails as one the top four priorities for investment and a need for safer connections.
FISCAL IMPACTS
Due to the nature of this project, full cost analysis is not complete at the time of this resolution. The current cost estimate for the entire project is $7,864,622. The culvert replacement portion of the project cost is being paid through a combination of City of Littleton Storm Drainage Enterprise Funds and MHFD funds.
The City of Littleton, in partnership with SSPRD, applied for an Arapahoe County Open Spaces Joint Program Grant. This grant will fund up to 50% of an outdoor recreation project. For this project, the ACOS grant is only eligible for the pedestrian underpass, trail and associated amenities; design costs and culvert replacement are excluded from grant eligible funds. The estimated cost for construction of the underpass, trail, and pedestrian bridge is $4,216,159. The awarded Arapahoe County Open Space grant funds up to 50 percent of the total underpass project cost, in the amount of $2,108,079. This grant was approved by the County’s Open Space Advisory Board on February 24, 2025 and the Board of County Commissioners on March 25, 2025. The remaining 50 percent of the underpass project cost, in the amount of $2,108,080, will be funded by the combination of a $1,054,040 from the City of Littleton and $1,054,040 from SSPRD. The SSPRD funds were approved by the SSPRD Board on March 12, 2025. The City of Littleton’s contribution towards the project is from the 3A Sales Tax Capital Improvement Fund. The City of Littleton is responsible for any project cost exceeding the total project amount.
Specific to this IGA with South Suburban Parks and Recreation District, the revenue will be deposited into the city’s Open Space Fund.
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Funding Source |
Funding Amount |
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Arapahoe County Open Spaces Grant |
$2,108,079 |
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South Suburban Parks and Recreation District |
$1,054,040 |
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City of Littleton 3A Fund |
$1,054,040 |
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Mile High Flood District |
No funding contribution with this IGA MHFD will manage construction of the project |
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Total |
$4,216,159 |
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the Intergovernmental Agreement.
ALTERNATIVES:
If Council does not approve the IGA, the construction of the underpass will likely not move forward without the South Suburban Parks and Recreation District funding contribution. While the Lee Gulch culvert replacement work will continue as funded, without funding contributions from other partners, this important and unique opportunity to concurrently construct a pedestrian underpass at this location will forfeit an important improvement and create a long-term uncertainty of when funding is available to install an underpass. Leveraging funding from partners for projects such as this is critical to complete projects the city would unlikely be able to afford on its own. Forgoing this opportunity would put Littleton and the region at a significant disadvantage in attaining community goals related to safety, mobility, access, and quality of life.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Resolution 48-2025 approving an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Littleton and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District regarding funding contributions, construction, and maintenance of the Lee Gulch Trail Pedestrian Underpass Project.