Hampden/Colorado Underpass Project - Complete

Map of new High Line Canal trail alignment with underpasses

The Trail is Open!

On Thursday, June 3rd, 2021, Cherry Hills Village, Denver, and Arapahoe County celebrated the grand opening of the High Line Canal underpass at Hampden Ave. and Colorado Boulevard. Mayor Stewart, Mayor Hancock, and Denver Councilwoman Black spoke at Magna Carta Park, followed by a ribbon cutting and kids bike parade through the tunnels.   The trail is now fully open, creating a much safer connection for pedestrians and cyclists along the High Line Canal Trail beneath Hampden Ave. and Colorado Blvd. 

Project History 

Beginning in May 2020, Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) started work to create a safer, more convenient connection for people who walk and ride bikes on the High Line Canal Trail. The original trail configuration left pedestrians and people on bikes at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Hampden Avenue, a busy intersection that can be intimidating to cross on foot or on a bike. This project built two underpasses to reroute the trail under Colorado and Hampden. The new underpasses provide a safer experience in alignment with Denver’s Vision Zero efforts to provide safer streets for all.

Between the two underpasses, DOTI also added a new, 10-foot wide multi-use trail along the north side of Hampden that gives people more space to bike and walk. The City of Cherry Hills Village installed a new footbridge across the canal at the dead-end of the High Line Canal trail immediately south of Hampden Avenue, and additional trail parallel to Hampden Avenue to connect the footbridge to the underpass.