Centennial celebrates National Public Works Week

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In celebration of National Public Works Week, more than 450 people visited the parking lot of Smoky Hill Library in Centennial to explore public works equipment and vehicles as part of a “Touch-a-Truck” event.

National Public Works Week, held May 21 through May 27, was initiated by the American Public Works Association to educate people on the importance of public works, according to a City of Centennial news release.

is year’s theme was, “Connecting the world through public works,” with the goal of highlighting how public works brings people together through infrastructure and service, according to the American Public Works Association.

In honor of the week, the City of Centennial, in partnership with Arapahoe Libraries and the Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority, hosted the “Touch-a-Truck” event May 24. e city also shared several educational videos about public works on its YouTube channel.

In Centennial, public works consists of street maintenance for about 1,145 lane miles; tra c engineering for a city with 96 tra c signals; facility maintenance of city buildings; grounds and eet maintenance; and capital improvement projects, according to the city.

Centennial Public Works Director Je Dankenbring explained in one of the videos that public works employees are the ones who x potholes, sweep streets, move snow, repair bridges and pavement, among other tasks.

“Our priority in public works is to provide a safe and e cient means

SEE PUBLIC WORKS, P10 e state of Colorado is boosting aid along the Front Range and across the state to help local pools stay open. e initiative was announced early this month at the Northglenn Recreation Center, along with administrators, local o cials, lawmakers and community members.

Gov. Jared Polis announced nancial help on May 30 for nearly 50 cities and districts as part of the Lifeguard Training Initiative — a follow-up to his administration’s Pools Special Initiative, launched last summer.

“We are making a splash with this exciting support for lifeguards, part of our ongoing work to make sure that pools can safely open earlier, expand hours, and stay open longer

SEE LIFEGUARDS, P5