Re-Visioning Highway 50 / Rainbow Boulevard
Salida, Colorado | 2019
Project Details
The Challenge
Key Activities
Outcomes
Report
In 2017, a group of local leaders from the City of Salida and Chaffee County attended a Community Builders team-based training. They identified the growth pressure that Salida was beginning to face, and, after discussions surrounding smart growth and sprawl prevention, pointed to Highway 50 as an opportunity for sustainable development.
We reunited with Salida in 2018 by partnering with them through our Technical Assistance program, where we launched the Future 50 project to develop a vision and plan for the Highway 50 corridor. Faced with challenges of community engagement, a primary goal of the project was to bring the people of Salida together to create a cohesive vision for their city.
Over the course of a year, the Salida community worked hard to provide the input, feedback, and leadership needed to create a vision and strategy for the Highway 50 corridor. Future 50 utilized a variety of engagement methods that focused on engaging Salidans in the places where they already gathered, including pop-up tables at community events, focus group meetings, walk audits, and online outreach.
Visioning and design workshops gave the community an additional opportunity to provide input while allowing them to work together to explore strategies and design concepts for achieving community goals. These activities resulted in the Future 50: Re-Vision Rainbow Boulevard Plan.
In August 2019, the Future 50: Re-Vision Rainbow Boulevard plan was adopted unanimously by the Salida City Council. The plan included several recommendations such as streetscaping, intersection improvements, code changes, lowering traffic speeds, and programs to support local businesses.
This plan allowed the City of Salida Community Development department to apply for state and federal grant funds. The grants will be used to assist the implementation of projects stemming from the Future 50 planning process and other related transportation plans. The Council has identified that the improvement of bicycle and pedestrian safety and connectivity are high-priority projects.