Greenways and Trails

On Friday there will be spraying along the St. Vrain

Greenway trail East of Left Hand Creek.

List of Greenways
Current trail development projects
Current Bike Map

For residents of Longmont and those in surrounding areas, a greenway serves as a sanctuary - an oasis from the noise and pace of everyday life. Weaving through parks and alongside rivers, creeks, ditches, and lakes, they protect neighboring wildlife areas yet provide opportunities for both environmental and recreational activities. They also serve as maintenance access for storm drainage functions throughout our City. "The trails become a part of the natural surrounding while maintaining and enhancing the natural character of the river corridor. A true escape." (City forester, Kenneth Wicklund)

Lykins Gulch Trail Open

The new Lykins Gulch trail opened to the public on Tuesday December 21 , 2010. The 1 mile long trail runs from Golden ponds to Airport Road. A new boulder crossing of the gulch connects to the gravel trail around south pond.

Upcoming construction work on the Lykins Gulch Pedestrian Underpass at Airport Road. Construction is scheduled to start during the week of September 26, 2011 and should be substantially completed by the end of November. No traffic delays are anticipated and cyclists and pedestrians will be encouraged to use alternate routes during construction.

This project will improve pedestrian safety and access to the St. Vrain Greenway and Vance Brand Airport by providing a grade separated trail from the existing Lykins Gulch trail to the concrete trails along both the east and west sides of Airport Road.

The City has contracted with DeFalco Construction Company to construct a concrete trail along Lykins Gulch at the box culverts under Airport Road. The project will include the installation of approximately 720’ of 10’ wide concrete trail, concrete and grouted boulder retaining walls, storm drainage improvements to accommodate the new trail, and lighting in the existing box culvert.

Beginning on October 3, 2011 a detour will be in place for cyclists and pedestrians. The detour route will direct cyclists and pedestrians south from the Lykins Gulch trail along the Niwot Ditch access road to Rogers Road, then west along Rogers Road to Airport Road.

Link to view the Lykins Gulch project

St. Vrain Greenway Distances Now Available

A new map with a mileage chart is now available.

St. Vrain Greenway Mileage Map 135 KB

St. Vrain Greenway Development

St. Vrain Greenway trail system is now fully constructed from Golden Ponds park to Sandstone Ranch. This segment of the trail bypasses an active Bald Eagle nest. The new portion of the trail project was opened to the public in November 2009. Work in 2010 includes development of two trailheads (at 119th St. and at County Line Road) along the trail system. Also, landscaping and trail enhancements between Lefthand Creek and Sandstone Ranch will be done. Construction is currently underway with an early 2011 completion expected.

For more information, please call Paula Fitzgerald 303-651-8448.

Dry Creek Greenway
The Dry Creek Greenway runs west from Willow Farm Park (at Fordham Street) to Grand View Meadows Drive (near Silver Creek High School). Further west, the trail runs from Blue Skies Park to North 75th Street. As development continues, the Greenway will link the two existing trail segments within Dry Creek Community park (west of Grandview Meadows Drive and east of Mountain Drive). This greenway will eventually connect to Twin Peaks Mall at Hover Street. Other facilities found along this greenway include: Eagle Crest Elementary School, Altona Middle School, Silver Creek High School and Blue Mountain Elementary School. Dry Creek greenway opens to several detention pond sites that are also part of the Longmont park system.

Lefthand Greenway
The Lefthand Greenway trail is in place from the St. Vrain River to Hover Street. The trail connects to Quail Campus (Longmont Recreation Center and Museum/ Cultural Center); Kanemoto Park and Lefthand Creek Park - all along Lefthand Creek. Named after Chief Niwot (translated as "lefthand" from the Arapaho language), the creek flows from Lefthand Canyon through south Longmont, where mature willow and cottonwood trees grace its banks. A future drainage project is planned for 2011 and will rebuild sections of trail from Main Street to Pike Road.

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Longmont Supply
The Longmont Supply Greenway begins at the intersection of 17th Avenue and Cambridge Drive and runs south to Hover Acres Park. Water flows from the Longmont supply Equalizer Pond off 21st Avenue into the ditch. Meandering through residential neighborhoods, the Longmont Supply Greenway is a good jogging and walking path.

Oligarchy Greenway
The Oligarchy Greenway is developed along part of the Oligarchy Ditch which runs through Longmont from McIntosh Lake (at the western end) to Union Reservoir (at the eastern end). The Oligarchy Ditch takes its name from the way most ditch companies were structured; "Oligarchy" means "government by the few." It is one of the earliest ditches built for Longmont's farmers and is considered an historic site. To date, the greenway exists from McIntosh Lake (at Airport Road in the Shores neighborhood) to Garden Acres Park, and again from Mountain View Avenue (just west of Lashley Street) to Third Avenue (near Pace Street). Features found along this trail system include McIntosh Lake District Park, Boulder County Lohr Agricultural Heritage Center (off Highway 66), Flanders Park, Dawson Park, Garden Acres Park, Clark Centennial Park and Rothrock Dell Park.

Rough & Ready
The Rough & Ready Greenway runs from Highway 66 to near 9th Avenue at Pace Street along the Rough and Ready Ditch. This trail connects to Rough and Ready Park, Alpine Elementary School, Skyline High School and runs near to the Ute Creek Golf Course.

Trail lengths to various landmarks (shown in miles):

Rough 'n Ready Greenway	Hwy 66	Rough 'n Ready Park	17th Avenue	Skyline High School	Pace Street
Hwy 66		0.59	1.19	1.73	3.51
Rough 'n Ready Park	0.59		0.60	1.19	1.79
17th Avenue	1.19	0.60		0.54	1.19
Skyline High School	1.73	1.19	0.54		0.37
Pace Street & Ninth Ave.	3.51	1.79	1.73	0.37

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St. Vrain Greenway

This trail system is considered the 'crown jewel' of Longmont's trail system as it links a variety of parks (gems), schools, other trails and commercial areas along its length (this concept in park design was first popularized by Frederick Law Olmstead who designed New York's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, and the Washington Monument). Currently the trail runs from Golden Ponds (at 3rd Avenue west of Hover Street) to Sandstone Ranch (approximately 8 miles). The St. Vrain Greenway is part of the Front Range Trail plan - a regional trail system that will some day run from Wyoming to New Mexico!

St Vrain trail with visitor on bench

The original master plan for the St. Vrain Greenway was completed in 1992 calling for seven miles of trail corridor from North 75th Street to County line Road 1. An eastern corridor master plan update was adopted July 2001 for the portion of the St.Vrain Greenway corridor west of Main Street and extended the original corridor from Weld County Road 1 to Weld County Road 7 (and to the newly acquired Boulder Creek Estates property - Longmont's first Open Space purchase). Boulder County plans to continue the Greenway west to Lyons and Colorado State Parks will extend the trail through St. Vrain State Parks to link to the Town of Frederick trail system.

The greenway promotes conservation awareness, improves habitat wildlife, and provides a variety of recreational opportunities. The Colorado Lottery has been the City's primary funding source for this important project. Boulder County has provided land and funding for portions of the Greenway, with Great Outdoors Colorado, and the Division of Wildlife allocating grants. Private donors have also contributed to the Greenway, including the Kanemoto Family, V.V. Golden Foundation, The St. Vrain Valley Foundation and the Roger and Roberta Jones Foundation. Many miles of concrete bike paths and gravel walking paths, as well as nature trails welcome visitors of all kinds to the Greenway. Several other city parks abut the Greenway, including Golden Ponds, Rogers Grove, Boulder County Fairgrounds, Izaak Walton Pond, Sandstone Ranch, and a future district park site just east of Main Street (currently referred to as Dickens Park).The trail connects to the Lefthand Greenway just east of Main Street. Future plans call for a connection to Union Reservoir and eastern Longmont via Spring Gulch #2.

Existing trailheads can be found at Golden Ponds, Rogers Grove, Boulder County Fairgrounds, Izaak Walton Pond, the sundial area at South Pratt Parkway, at 1st Avenue near the Fire Training Center (west of Martin Street), the western end of the Harvest Junction North commercial development and at Sandstone Ranch.

St. Vrain Greenway Trail Development Projects:
Project Phase	Location	Status
St. Vrain Greenway - Pavlakis Open Space	District Park Development - Between Main Street and Martin Street, north of the St. Vrain Creek	Master Plan update will begin in late fall 2011.

The following maps may take a little while to download because they are very detailed.

Masterplan Map of Urban Reach (pdf, 7,608 kb) from S. Pratt Parkway to 119th Street (includes St Vrain Greenway Phases 6 and 7 and future Phase 9)

Masterplan Map of Suburban Reach (pdf, 7,977 kb) from 119th Street to Weld Country Road 1 (includes St. Vrain Greenway Phase 7b and future Phase 9)

Masterplan Map of Rural Reach (pdf, 12,383 kb) from WCR 1 to Sandstone Ranch (includes St. Vrain Greenway Phase 8 and future Phase 10).

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Spring Gulch #1

The Spring Gulch #1 greenway runs through Kensington Park at 9th Avenue to Rothrock Place near 3rd Avenue.

Spring Gulch #2
This greenway now runs from Hwy 66 to Pace Street and again from 17th Avenue (near the Ute Creek Golf Course and Jim Hamm Pond) to south of 9th Avenue. The greenway is planned to continue south and east, connecting to Union Reservoir, Sandstone Ranch and the St. Vrain Greenway. Currently, Ute Creek Golf Course, Fall River Elementary School, Stephen Day Park and Trail Ridge Middle School can be found along the trail.