Transcript Golden
May 23, 2013
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A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourgoldennews.com
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 147, Issue 25
State funding next step for beltway CDOT to weigh funding requests, Golden plan By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
Racers in a new Golden Games event, white water stand up paddleboarding (SUP), tackled some of the rapids along the Clear Creek on Sunday. Photos by Glenn Wallace
Golden Games afloat
Outdoor sporting event completes third year By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
T
he weather was warm, the water was high, and The Third Annual Golden Games brought diverse outdoor sporting competition back to Golden last weekend. “We had a great turnout,” said Golden Games founder and organizer Troy Harcourt. Around 100 competitors participated during the three days of competition, held annually on the weekend before Memorial Day. Events included a “screaming” quarter-mile kayak race down Clear Creek, freestyle kayak, competitive fly fishing, and stand-up paddleboard races. Special clinics for slack line walking, paddle boarding, and kayaking also attracted the curious. Danielle Radovich of Golden said she came to the creek Sunday with her son Aiden Piper, 6, to throw some rocks and enjoy the springtime weather. “We stayed to watch the kayakers because they’re pretty cool,” Radovich said. “Because they can do flips, and other tricks,” Aiden added. Radovich said getting to watch activities like the Golden Games in downtown Golden was part of the area’s appeal. “We love it, it’s beautiful and it’s active and on any given day we can go see something going on,” Radovich said. The competitive fly fishing events had some new blood this year, Harcourt’s nephews River, 12, and Drake Harcourt, 8. The two were by far the youngest competitors in the field, which included professional fly fishers. POSTAL ADDRESS
Stand up paddle boarding down Clear Creek was a crowd-pleasing event on Sunday.
Western Beltway Plan watchers have had a lot to look over this month with a major Colorado Department of Transportation agreement with the city of Golden, and state transportation funding is up for grabs. On May 9, the city of Golden ended more than 20 years of contention with CDOT by agreeing to a shared development vision for the U.S. Highway 6 and State Highway 93 corridor. That section of roadway was initially studied by CDOT as one of the last links in the 470 beltway design. Initial CDOT plans envisioned the corridor as being six lanes across, with an elevated freeway and speed limits as high as 70 mph. After years of negotiations, the leaderships of CDOT and Golden reached a joint agreement. The pact would keep speed limits within their current range of 45-55 mph, include better sound mitigation, and limit the corridor to four lanes until traffic reaches volume levels of at least 70,000 vehicles a day. The agreement does not address the broader issue of completing a regional beltway link. John Putnam, special counsel to the city of Golden, said he would anticipate CDOT officials signing the agreement in “months, but not many months.” He cautioned city officials that the agreement could be tossed out by future CDOT or Golden city councils. “The ultimate protection for the city is to put some of those items in place in plans and in concrete,” Putnam said. Golden has already taken two steps in that direction. The council approved $150,000 for preliminary design engineering on portions of the new plan. The city also applied for some of CDOT’s Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnership (RAMP) funding to help bring the agreed-upon plan into existence, beginning with improvements to the U.S. 6 and 19th Avenue intersection.
Beltway efforts River said he liked their chances to finish in the middle of the pack though, as he watched the competition try to land a casted fly in a series of target rings floating on the water. “It’s kind of like mini golf,” River said. Stand up paddle boarding (SUP) down the Clear Creek was the crowd-pleasing event of the day Sunday, with the riverbank spectators cheering for any athlete who made it past the roughest of rapids on their feet. “Golden Games is a great event to draw a lot of people to Golden. There’s bigger crowds this year and it’s got potential to continue to grow,” professional SUP athlete and event organizer Alex Mauer said.
The SUP flat water race was new this year, as was a major sponsor that is well known in outdoor sporting circles — GoPro. The digital camera manufacturer is a title sponsor of the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail (June 6-9), which Harcourt said has served as a major inspiration for the Golden Games. Harcourt said the Golden Games will now serve as an official training event for the Vail event, and will continue to expand. “Next year we are hoping to have mountain biking and rock climbing and possibly motorcycles,” Harcourt said, adding that he was always looking for volunteer organizers willing to help make those new events a reality.
At the county level, meetings concerning the $750,000 Western Beltway study have continued. At the county’s May 14 meeting the three Jeffco commissioners talked with Western Beltway Study’s project manager Lee Kellar, who is with the firm Parsons Brinckerhoff. The beltway meeting included a review of initial RAMP applications, which contained requests for several sections of the planned beltway ramp. CDOT is scheduled to report back to Golden and Jeffco on May 31 about which projects had been narrowed down for final consideration of funding.
Beltway continues on Page 28
GOLDEN TRANSCRIPT (ISSN 0746-6382)
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