Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Public Works Director Trent Prall - City of Grand Junction - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group
What public works projects are on the horizon for Grand Junction and how does that impact you? REALTOR® Jen Taylor sits down with Public Works Director Trent Prall from the City of Grand Junction to get the inside scoop on what's happening in the Grand Valley in this month's Full Circle Podcast!
Visit Grand Junction's website - it's a great resource for all your GJ needs!
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page to see this and all of our episodes.
What public works projects are on the horizon for Grand Junction and how does that impact you? REALTOR® Jen Taylor sits down with Public Works Director Trent Prall from the City of Grand Junction to get the inside scoop on what's happening in the Grand Valley in this month's Full Circle Podcast!
Visit Grand Junction's website - it's a great resource for all your GJ needs!
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page to see this and all of our episodes.
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, it's Jen Taylor with the Kristy Reese Group. Welcome to the Full Circle Podcast. Spoiler alert, I'm not Kristy Reese from filling in for Kristy this week. She's, I dunno , she's doing something really fun. I'm not sure what, but good for her. I am here. I am lucky to be here with my good friend and colleague. We've been working together for a long time. Mr. Trent PR from the City of Grand Junction.
Speaker 3:Good afternoon,
Speaker 2:Jen. Hi Trent. What
Speaker 3:Are you ? Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2:Yes. What are you up to this afternoon?
Speaker 3:So, yeah, here what I think to share a little bit about everything that the city is going on. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, I'm really excited about , um, a number of different fronts there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, especially as it relates to capital , which is my purview. Um , primary purview here with the city.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. You have a lot going on, A lot under your hood. And , uh Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Yeah . We're gonna , we're gonna prop open the proverbial hood today. Alright . Peek underneath. Yeah . Sounds great. So, a little housekeeping, uhhuh , we've got , uh, we're here at lunch hour. Are you are , I'm sorry that you're missing your lunch or you , hopefully you've eaten or are going to so we'll
Speaker 3:Later. Okay,
Speaker 2:Good. Just wanna
Speaker 3:Make sure we're , get our , somewhere later.
Speaker 2:Keep our guests fed <laugh> . Yep . Thanks. Upright and healthy. Yeah. And then , um, I know you've got some meetings after this and , uh, we'll , yeah. Let's get to it. All's talk about it sounds so tr crawl . Tell us, where do you come from?
Speaker 3:<laugh> . So, born and raised in Sterling, Colorado. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, northeast of Denver, about 120 miles for those that have not ventured that way before. Um, a town of about 13,000 people. Uhhuh <affirmative> , and , um, went to school at Colorado State University. Yeah . And , um, oh , what then ? City of Los Angeles came in and hired about half of my class. And , um, there wasn't a whole lot going on there in 90, in 1990 , um, here in the state of Colorado or in the Rocky Mountains. They were still kind of reeling from the , um, from the oil and gas bust. Yeah . Um, about seven years prior. And so City of LA had a lot of opportunities and lots of sun and , um, so , um, ended up , um, out there for about five years.
Speaker 2:Go west. They said,
Speaker 3:Go west.
Speaker 2:Go west, young
Speaker 3:Man. And it was , um, great experience that , uh, ended up lending me. Um, uh, I got married that same summer, Uhhuh . And , um, so Michelle and I married , um, went out , um, together, not knowing anybody else out there and , um, so kind of sink or swim and Wow. Um , anyway, five years later she got her accounting degree. I got a ma I picked up a master's in business administration along the way. Yeah . And then , um, as well as some just great experience with the city of Los Angeles, that was to , um, directly applicable to , um, for jobs coming back open here in Colorado , um, there in the beginning of 95. And , um, so yeah, we ended up , um, moving here in February of 95 and been here 29 years here a couple months ago.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Back to Colorado. Yeah. Did you pick up surfing? What did you do while you were in California? What did , so
Speaker 3:We did a lot. How did you keep yourself busy lot . We did a lot of backpacking, a lot of bike , a lot of , um, mountain biking. Um , that was a mountain biking was first starting out out Uhhuh <affirmative> . And so we did a lot of that up and down the coast. Um, um, and , um, yeah, a lot of time on the beach , um, studying for our very , our couple of degrees and so forth. Yeah . But , um, anyway, yeah, just really soaked it all up , um, there in Southern California. And , um, anyway, enjoyed our time there, but , um, yeah, difficult to buy a house. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, so as we were looking to start a family , uh, definitely looking for a better quality of life and we knew we wanted to get back closer to family here in Colorado and Yeah . And the front range. And , um, so that's how we started looking. And , um, grand Junction had a position that came open and , um, actually the interview process was such that , um, we got on the interstate after that pretty rigorous , um, day and a half interview, and , um, told Michelle that , uh, this is a place we don't have to worry about ever coming back, back to again, <laugh> . And by the time we got over to some friend's house over in Highlands Ranch, we , um, um, city of Grand Junction had already called my parents where we were gonna be the next night, and then , um, up in Sterling, and then they had called my friends. And so we answered the door there and they said, so why would the city of Grand Junction wanna be talking to you? And , um,
Speaker 2:No. Wait , so they called your parents first, not because they wanted to ask for their permission, but because that was the era before South phone that was
Speaker 3:Before cell phones . Yes . And so they, and , and really before email was really , um, going there, so they knew that's where we were headed. Uhhuh <affirmative> , um, at that point we were still based out of , out of LA and , um, so anyway, funny. And , and so the friends that we were staying with, he's a civil engineer, she's an accountant, and they just thought it would be great if we moved back to Colorado and all worked together. Yeah .
Speaker 2:So you had a whole , oops . So you had a whole squad rooting for you by the time you actually arrived at your friend's house? We,
Speaker 3:We did, except for them. They were, they were not so excited about us moving to Grand Junction, so. Got it . They have since gone over that over the last 29 years.
Speaker 2:They probably come here now to visit you. They come
Speaker 3:Here and visit and love it over here. Yep . Just like we do. Good for you guys . Since then, we've got , um, more raised. Um , I'm born and raised , um, three kids and , um, they're all out and about. Um , two are still here in the community and another one's up in Montana
Speaker 2:Yeah. Contributing citizens now. And how old's your youngest?
Speaker 3:Youngest is 23.
Speaker 2:23. Yeah . Happen to know him
Speaker 3:And here. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, working at Timberline Bank and our daughter's a deputy county coroner and our oldest son is in property management up in Bozeman, big sky area.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. So you've got another great place to travel to. We do. Yeah. Keeping the family together,
Speaker 3:Although, yeah, they have long winters. They have real winters here, right there. Not like we have here that , um, is really pretty mild and are able to mountain bike all the time. Yep .
Speaker 2:We have a soft peak of winter, don't we? That's what we love about this place. One of the things we love about this place. Terrific . I say we, I'm including you in that. Yes . I assume you love that about this place, <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yes , absolutely.
Speaker 2:So many of us do. Yeah. The opportunity for year round recreation and it and , and when you arrived in Grand Junction, what did you It was 1995, you
Speaker 3:Said? 1995. Okay . And so there was not a lot of , um, housing stock to choose from. Yeah. I mean we had , um, uh, GaN Ridge going in and we had Fountainhead going in , and that was about the only new product that had been built in an over 10 years. And , um, so not, anyway, it served its purpose. Those, those properties did. But , um, definitely not the great deals that we thought we would get, you know, leaving the California market Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> where we just about spent $150,000 on a one bedroom , one bath condo. Wow. Um , and instead , um, got here and , and got into , um, just a screaming deal out here on the Redlands Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, right there at about six months after we got here. Great.
Speaker 2:So , great. Yep . Yeah. Describe Grand Junction when you arrived. Other than, you know, the, the new developments that were going in.
Speaker 3:So things were moving, I mean, it was starting to, starting to come out of the recession, Uhhuh <affirmative> . Um , there were a little bit the , the oil and gas bust of 83, so , Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . I mean, it's still, still lingering, you know, 12, 13 years later. Um, but yeah, definitely a lot. Um , more energy. I think I was the third project engineer they had hired , um, um, to expand their engineering capability there. And , um, um, and so yeah, good, good effort towards some street reconstructions and so forth is what I was hired for originally. And then a lot going on with sewer and water infrastructure as well. But , um, but yeah, still pretty slow and sleepy. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> compared to where we were just a few years after that, you know , going into , um, into the.com era there in the late nineties, early two thousands , um, um, and so forth. And then you get into 2003 and voters approved , um, the Riverside Parkway just right behind you . Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And , um, and so that , um, took me out of city hall and, and down to work on that particular project for a couple of years. And then , um, and then we ended up opening that in about August of 2008. And that's just proven to be a really big boon. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> really popular for the, for the community as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um ,
Speaker 2:I was driving on the parkway coming in today, and I thought, oh, she should have called it the Riverside Speedway. <laugh> . Yeah .
Speaker 3:Well, there , there are definitely some that , um, that, that take it a little faster than what we have posted out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah . Yep . Yeah . So ,
Speaker 3:Yeah. Um, so anyway, so at that that point, things are definitely booming. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um , there are , by 2006, seven and eight and , um, on a number of fronts we've got , um, going on , um, there. And then , um, everything slowed down Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> at that point. Uh , a little bit of a down , quite a bit of a downsize there for the city as far as staff, early retirements, and , um, and a few layoffs. Then at that point
Speaker 2:You're talking about what era, what ,
Speaker 3:Um , so that would've been 2010, really . 10. Yeah . You know, we were a little bit late getting into the 2008 bust. Yeah . We
Speaker 2:Had the
Speaker 3:Tail , it really didn't impact . Yeah . We had a pretty good tail . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And then in late 2009, early 2010 is when , um, we had to start , um, looking at our, our finances really tight. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and , um, based on what was happening in the other 3,800 count counties in the United States.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Time to get really resourceful.
Speaker 3:Yep , exactly. So , Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Anyway , um, um, So yeah, we've been , uh, a number of different projects , um, you know, through all those, through all those years in advance , uh, or not advance, but as well as, you know, the Riverside Parkway and rolling into , um, some vertical construction as well, such as , um, the Lincoln Park Tower Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, the Avalon, you know , redo , which , which was just amazing. Um, and then you just keep adding, you know, more projects onto that, the public safety, you know, initiative there with new PD and, and fire station remodels. And then you keep rolling , um, on into , um, gosh, what else? Amphitheater here in , in Las Colonus and starting to get some energy, you know, going down here along the river front . Yeah. And then , um, 2016 , um, there in June, July, I think is right when Greg Caton came on board with us Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , and he started putting some other pieces and parts together and , um, yeah. By January of 2017, that was , um, when Las Colonus , you know , I'm walking down the hall, just heading to the bathroom, minding my own business. Greg's coming the opposite direction. <laugh> . He goes , tr I've got a project we need to talk about. And so I , we call those hallway projects. I love it. They weren't on any capital improvement plan, they weren't on , on anybody's agenda prior to , um, prior to that conversation right there. And , um, all of a sudden that was born. And, and he had all the, or , or the community, I mean, between the DDA and city council and um, um, and then Greg and our finance department and so forth, we had everything financed within about four months.
Speaker 2:Amazing . It was all DDA downtown development authority
Speaker 3:Going . Yes. Yes . My apologies on the acronym there, but yes. Downtown Development Authority, authority was , um, critical in , in that as well. But yeah . Um , and that's where Greg really excelled was, was pulling a lot of different pieces and parts of the community and relationships , um, throughout the community and, and , um, getting things moving. Yeah. But , um, yeah , definitely one of the signature projects in my career , um, here was definitely with Las Colonus and then following up there with Do Rios. Oh , do Rios . Just a couple of years , um, right after that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. That's , uh, that's right about when, I think it was maybe October of 2016 when I , um, I had started to talk with a couple people on city council and , and then Greg had just been hired and then coming to you guys maybe that October, I think it was Mm-Hmm . Was our first meeting. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and , uh, off we went with Do Rios. Yep . Yeah . The rest is history. Yep . It sure is a lot . A lot of meetings. Yeah . A lot of saddle time.
Speaker 3:Uh , absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yes. That's how it's amazing how things are born. It's , uh, a lot of, you know, it's like building icebergs in the desert, a lot of things happening behind the scenes and in, you know, not necessarily closed room environments, but just it happens with, you know, conversations down the hallway or at the trail head or , um, but, you know, even even phone calls after hours trying to get this, get stuff figured out. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . GSD Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> get done. Mm-Hmm . Yep . How do we do it? Exactly. Greg was such a great , um, he , he was a , a , a great ally Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> between kind of that connector of public, private , and nonprofit . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Right . That , um, yeah . He was a , a great connector. You have a lot of that too. You have so many different , um, if I may, just knowing you and our kids have grown up together. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So it's been really fun to, you know, we run into each other at restaurants and Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> grocery store and, you know, you at the Trailhead and , um, and you having so many hobbies and so many passions and pursuits as an outdoors , um, I , I would imagine that a lot of things cross paths with you, your personal and your professional life and , and where those conversations take place. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> .
Speaker 3:Yeah. They sure do. On and off the clock. On and off the clock. Yes. Um , running into folks, you know, as we run up and down the rivers Yeah . Um , throughout Western Colorado. And , um, there's a definitely a pretty good network , um, there and, and not a huge network, but , um, definitely a growing network there. That's been a lot of fun , um, catching up with folks over that. Um, obviously the riverfront Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> has been a , um, an area of emphasis ever since, but even before I got here , um, I think that all started about in 1988 mm-Hmm . <affirmative> with some of the western portions here of, of , um, of Las Colonus , uh, what is now Las Colonus , and of course do Rios as well. Yeah. And , um, um, and just some of that, you know, vision that, you know, happened all along the riverfront there. And then we've got , um, you know, the mountain biking community with, with Cop moba and , um, and close ties there with the Bureau of Land Management. Right . And , um, Colorado Parks and Wildlife with everything we're working on right now. Um , which is one of the projects I did want to talk about was , um, our efforts with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Mesa County Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> on , on finishing up this last mile and a half in between the DY and 29 Road Yes. And , um, here , um, just east of Los Colonials . Yes . And so we
Speaker 2:Yes . Recreation enthusiast want to hear this.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, yes. And , um, yeah, we're really excited about progress that we're making there with the last remaining property owner , um, um, there that we hope to have that closed here by the end of June, 1st of July, somewhere in that timeframe. End of
Speaker 2:June, 1st of July this year, 2024. So
Speaker 3:That's as far as breaking news right . Of way acquisition and then moving forward , um, from that would be , um, uh, going for a GOCO grant later on this year. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And then the plan would be for construction then next year. And , um, um, of course that's all contingent on , um, some city and county , um, and CPW , um, boards coming together for, for all of that. Yeah . Fantastic. But we spend lots of excitement about the riverfront Trail for, for many, many years. And , um, and so yeah, we're excited to hopefully bring that to fruition here in the next 18 months. Beautiful.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. And the riverfront Trail for those that are outside of our valley listening in , uh, it's one of our crown jewels of the, of the , uh, of , of our valley, of the Grand Junction area. It's , um, started as the string of pearls and connecting all of the , the jewels along the Colorado riverfront through our valley , um, kind of in the center of which is, is the confluence. And , um, that's, what is it now? Is it 34 miles stem to stern? 30? I'm putting you on the spot. 30 something, 32, 34, 36, 4 20,
Speaker 3:Probably 24, 25. We go out to 33 and a quarter road. Uhhuh . <affirmative> . But you start there in Loma, so whatever Loma is Yeah. I think that's about exit 10, something like that. So,
Speaker 2:Or Yeah . Okay .
Speaker 3:10 road, something like that.
Speaker 2:So , right. So you, and , and there are spur trails all along the Spur trail up to the lunch loot parking lot to the tab watch trail head , um, and then you've got the, and it goes all the way out to , uh, to the co capelli trailhead out in Loma. Yes,
Speaker 3:It sure does.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah . With that , with that final gap Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> to connect the dots. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Yeah. The riverfront and the , and how that has , um, spurred so much activity, not only from the recreation corridor , but uh , uh, awareness of the riverfront and, you know, what was so long hidden by Tam risk and , um, private land Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and junk cars, and , um, just completely turned this valley around. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Dos Rios had 8,500 cars , um, waiting to be demolished, salvaged , um, there in the , or the mid nineties Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And , um, and so yeah, that transformation there with all the work that Department of Energy , um, did , um, in cleaning up a lot of the mill tailings and so forth. And , but they had to move all those cars off, and their plan was to bring it back after washing up all those cars, clean up all the mill tailings that weren't uranium mill tailings that were underneath all that. And luckily we had some , um, the , the Lions Club was involved, and then our, our predecessors there with one riverfront Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, being such strong community advocates about this is what we want for our community long term Mm-Hmm . And so
Speaker 2:Don't bring the cars back,
Speaker 3:Don't bring the cars back , anything but cars. And so they backed that up and, and , um, actually arranged for the purchase of that. And so , um, as both of those uranium projects , um, came to an end both here at Las Colonials Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , the city was deeded , um, um, was deeded possession of, of this 140 acres or so. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And then we were also deeded the , the 55 acres over there at Do Rios. And so , um, yeah, again, under, under Greg's , um, leadership and, and councils and DDAs and so forth involvement , um, both of those projects are now to the point where , um, are just waiting to go vertical. Waiting
Speaker 2:To go vertical. Yeah . Yeah . We , we know a little bit about that. Yeah . I can, I can speak a little bit to that too. It's , uh, yeah. And , and interesting, you know, as we bounce from past, present to future, you've got your hands in all, how many years have you been with the city then? Since 1995. Yep .
Speaker 3:So 29 years. Oh ,
Speaker 2:Yeah. Amazing. Mm-Hmm . Yeah . Great legacy. And, and then , um, where we are right now, we're in the Bonsai building at Las Colonas . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, this is the first, this was the first structure, or was it Rocky mounts?
Speaker 3:Rocky Mounts was first
Speaker 2:Was, first was second , and then
Speaker 3:This was second.
Speaker 2:Okay, got it. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And, and this is the site of the, what , what was the climax? Mine, the uranium mine.
Speaker 3:Um, not so much the, the , the mine, but the processing had happened further to the north and west of us . Okay. And then where we're at right now is where a lot of the tailings tailing have been stored. Yes. Um , so uranium's a very small percentage of the ore that's mined, and so they, they harvest that out, and then they toss off the, the , what they call tailings. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> off to the side . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So millions of cubic yards were, were stockpiled here. And then , um, and then yeah, through doe , uh, department of Energy efforts , um, all of those were hauled out in the late eighties, early nineties , um, to a repository here south of town.
Speaker 2:Got it. That clarifies something for me. I learned something. Thank you for that. Yeah. And this was, this was, you know, as the story goes, the a hundred foot tall pile of mill tailings, and you could back your truck up the city, the land owners , anybody a homeowner could. And , and it made a great binding agent, as we understand in Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> in , uh, concrete and cement.
Speaker 3:Yep . It was a great, great material to have underneath your sidewalks, uhhuh underneath your roads, around your pipes , um, and, and underneath foundations and so forth. So instead of mining other aggregates around Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, people would use that for a structural field just to kind of smooth things out and then pour the concrete on top of that. And so it's part of doe's cleanup efforts in the eighties. Yes. They went through and saw, cut out everyone's , um, basement's floors, slab floors, took out all the mill tailings, put new material in Yeah. Report all that. And then, you know, refinished everyone's homes Yeah . That ,
Speaker 2:That , those that opted in part
Speaker 3:Of that , those that opted in . Right .
Speaker 2:Exactly. We deal with that every day in real estate. That's, we pull a mill tillings report whether there has ever been a structure on this land or not, or, you know, new or old, it doesn't matter. We pull it every day . It's such a nuance about our valley. So Yeah. It's great. It's part of our history. Um, yeah. So let's talk about , uh, some of the things that have got , so the Las colonies to do , Rios comprises about a two mile stretch. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , is that right? Yes, that's correct. Along the Colorado riverfront of downtown. It really extends our, our downtown sector. We're , we're about a half a mile as the crow flies from, from downtown Main Street. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, one of the big conversations that's been on the , um, in a lot of meetings and, and just casual conversation on the, on the sidewalk has been how do we get more people from downtown to the riverfront Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And as we talk about transportation corridors, can you speak a little bit about that? What's already in place and what might perhaps one day be in place?
Speaker 3:You bet. The, on the , on Seventh Street, we've already got, you know, from way back in, I wanna say like 19 88, 89 , um, is when seventh Street was improved. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> to what we call now a , a complete street, which included curb gutters, sidewalks , um, um, planting strips to help buffer the sidewalks and so forth. But we also have bike lanes. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And so that was clear back in 1988. We didn't even know what complete streets were at that point, that that term hadn't even been , um, been coined yet. That didn't happen until about 2006. And , um, so anyway, we were starting to do the right things then. And that was state of the art , um, then to tie Main Street to the, into the riverfront Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And so , um, so that was all completed as part of the seventh Street , um, project way back then. Is it the way we build it today ? No , not necessarily. We'd have little wider bike lanes, which we have retried since we originally built that. Um, in the concrete on the sides. Could probably use a little of attention Uhhuh , um, as well to , um, to help improve that. You know, ideally, you know, you would've a detached path altogether, 10 foot wide detached path running up the corridor. Um, that would just be a lot more comfortable for a wider range of users, you know, all the way down to seven, 8-year-old kids, you know, all the way up into, into seniors in their, you know, seventies and eighties. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And , um, and so with a bike lane, those two groups , uh, in particular may not be quite as comfortable, you know, with the corridor. So as we look at that's existing. And then as part of , um, the downtown development authorities , um, plan of development , um, um, that they completed back in 20 19, 1 of the other corridors that they looked at was ninth Street. Yes. And so ninth Street being able to, I mean , it , it hasn't been improved. It's just asphalt. Um, and then serves, you know, the commercial developments, you know, on either side there, commercial slash industrial developments on both sides there. And ideally , um, that would have a more significant detached , um, a multimodal facility that that serves, you know, not only pedestrians, but also bikes and , um, scooters could be up on that as well. And , um, um, so forth down that ninth Street corridor, we don't have that , um, budgeted just yet, but that, that is really the, the one that could , um, could really be the kind of the springboard for that. And then you have the lights at , at , um, um, the signals there on I 70 B mm-Hmm . <affirmative> at Pick and Ute right there at Emerson Park, where the brand new skate park is under construction right now. Yes. Very exciting. And , um, yep . Very exciting there. Sexy
Speaker 2:Dirt being thrown there. It'll be a skate park for downtown. Yep . Great.
Speaker 3:And so transitioning across that over to 10th Street, and then 10th Street gets you all the way up to , um, CMU. Yes. And that's already a designated , um, preferred , um, psychopath as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So , um, so really that's how we, you know, envisioned long term to be able to help give more folks, you know, down here. But the city recently completed a , um, our pedestrian bicycle plan, and , um, they kind of looked at the entire city and kind of laid out corridors that, that need some attention and so forth. And so one of the corridors that we're getting ready to, to study in more detail is the seventh Street Corridor, all the way from Struthers all the way up to Horizon Drive, uhhuh . And , um, and so being able to tie into the system that, that then , um, the bike path, the existing bike path there, that , um, goes all the way up to the airport. Got it. So , wow. Anyway, so excited
Speaker 2:As you fun of stuff. Does your mind work like a giant , um, pictograph? Like is it just, is everything kind of in a hierarchy of patterns and grids and, and , uh, this whole valley is imprinted in your mind? You know , I ,
Speaker 3:In such a way
Speaker 2:That it ,
Speaker 3:It is, but you know, I , you know, unlike most careers, at least with civil engineering, you're able to , um, look at my work, Uhhuh <affirmative> , and I go to other communities and look at everybody else's work. 'cause it's all on stage, everybody's roads, how good a condition they are. And of course , curb , gutters, sidewalks, streetlights , um, how they , how they maintain the landscaping, how they get people around and, and their cycle tracks and bike pack and anyway, all of that. Yes. Um , it's all on stage. Whereas, you know, you can't really go to another community and take a look at a realtor's , um, realtor's work and, and see exactly what, you know, behind the scenes there. But, you know, for us as civil engineers, we get to drive that all the time. Yes . And so, even on how cool , um, during the winter, we do a lot of what we call trail inspections, and that's where I grab a couple other , um, engineers and we go out and take a look at the, the concrete infrastructure that we have on bikes and , um, go for a bike ride over lunch. And , um, but yeah, those are our trail inspections and, and twofold to see how things are all tying together and see if anything needs any maintenance. Wow.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's great. So yeah, your , your , your office is , uh, is , is ever in front of you, no matter where you're going, what you're doing, how late or how early you are arriving, you're always checking it out. Yeah .
Speaker 3:And my wife gets , um, tired. We share, share a Google account, and so what pictures I take show up on that and what pictures she takes shows up on that as well. And , um, so we're out on trips and , um, all of a sudden she's gotta wade through , um, about 15 pictures worth of a , of cycle cycle track somewhere, or a sidewalk concrete or an intersection or street lights or stuff like that. So. Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:Anyway , I love
Speaker 3:It . Appreciate , appreciate her patience with me.
Speaker 2:So , yeah. Oh, how fun. How fun. That's so engaging too. I love that. That and going to other communities, right. And seeing what , uh, how inspiring that must be, and also what , uh, what feedback that must be for you to feel like we're doing. We're doing pretty well. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Yeah. And thinking about the growth and the, the expansion of Grand Junction as we look into 2050, just listening to Nathan Perry the other day and how exciting that is. Are we on par for early demographic , um, forecasts, or are we off par, off track ? Do you know what, how, in terms of, and how that relates to transportation? And just making sure that we're staying on top of that to keep the flow of our
Speaker 3:Value . So we work very closely with our regional Mesa County Regional Transportation Planning office. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And, and so every five years, the federal government requires us to update our regional transportation plan. And so we work very closely with our, with the state demographers, with our long range planners , and , um, um, in coming up with what's gonna develop next, what land is left to develop, what land's gonna redevelop, and then that , um, that then projects onto , um, our transportation network. And then we're able to take a look and see where those hotspots are gonna be coming up, you know, whether Patterson and 29 Road is gonna gonna fail here in the next 20 years. And by failure, I mean that you got gridlock. Yeah . It's taking you multiple cycles to, to get through a , a particular intersection or signal. Right.
Speaker 2:Which you hear people start to talk about Now, they , we old timers that have lived in the valley for a long time, yes.
Speaker 3:Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that is, that is accurate. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And , um, and yes, if you want gridlock, it's , um, generally you'll find it , um, in other communities Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, larger communities such as Salt Lake or in Denver and so forth. Yeah. But we do have a , a fair amount of folks that get stressed out , um, here with us as well, and , and share that with us. So, Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . 'cause um, every time you get your driver's license, or anyone who has a driver's license is also a transportation engineer. Uhhuh <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:Got it .
Speaker 3:And , um, and so they're , um, never short on providing feedback for us.
Speaker 2:It's your five minutes of critical acclaim. Yep .
Speaker 3:<laugh> . Yep . Exactly. So anyway , um, so, so all that modeling goes in and , and helps drive, you know, the, you know, like our 24 road, you know, expansion G Road, you know, they're in front of community hospital. A lot of that was driven by what was showing in the models there, you know, 15, 20 years ago. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And , um, but yeah, I , I can , I can share as far as getting to your question as far as are we on par with the demographics? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So all of that changes. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> 2008, we're booming 6, 7, 8, and we're working on our 2030 plan at that point. Um, maybe 20, 35 plan at that point. And we are projecting out to be 272,000 people here in the valley. Wow. And it's like, ouch. You know, and we've got gridlock everywhere. I mean, we need six lanes on Patterson, on I 70 B. Wow. Um , highway 50 , um, and all that. And now we're projecting for about 2050, I believe the number is, is right around 225,000 Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So , and that's just all based on, you know, varying growth rates.
Speaker 2:And we're at , you
Speaker 3:Apply to that one 60 , we're just a little over one 60 right now. Okay . In the county. In
Speaker 2:The county, yes. So , okay . Yep . Got it.
Speaker 3:And , um, so got it . 2 25 here in the next 25 years or so. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, um, again, that's all subject to change. Um ,
Speaker 2:Every five years or so,
Speaker 3:Reevaluate every five years we revisit that. Okay. And , um, but yeah, after that 2008 study that said we were gonna be at 2 72, we didn't grow again, you know, for another, what, six, seven years.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that puts some pause on the forecast. It did. Yeah. You are the, you're , you're kind of the minister of flow, the farmer of flow for the valley as we look at all that. So
Speaker 3:Yeah . There's a lot of others involved.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course, of course. Yeah. But you're the, you're, yeah. Uh , I started to call you the high priest of that, so <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yeah .
Speaker 2:So , um, going back to do Rios, going back to getting people from downtown to the riverfront, the , the bridge, the pedestrian bridge. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , is that still on the table? Is that still a topic?
Speaker 3:That is , that is still on the table, but it is, you know, we had originally included that , uh, we had a couple of grant requests back in 20 17, 18 when we first started talking to US Rios. And , um, and people were going, Trent, you know, that's the bridge to nowhere. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And it's like , um, um, and I was arguing more, it's not the bridge too far. It's the bridge too soon. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And we just need more , um, vertical infrastructure to be going . That means all the buildings, all the commercial, all the retail, the 300 plus units of residential Yeah. You know , going there to help drive that demand. Yep . And , and the whole idea behind the vision of that, the bridge that would , um, essentially start there near the depot Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> on the north side, and then come over and then , um, run through the heart of Dos Rios right down to the Colorado River. Um , the whole vision there is that you'd be able to be perhaps at the convention center , um, there on Main Street, and, and within about a 15 to 16 minute walk you're sitting along the waterfront , um, in cool space. Yes . I mean , with, with , um, um, with all that commercial outdoor space, the beach is the, the , the splash park that is currently underway. The, the , um, the , the park work that , um, our parks and rec department is already put together down there. Um, it'll be a , a special , um, special place for sure. One of those, one of those jewels are the gems there on one of the pearls, I guess. There we go. Along the riverfront trail. Yep . That was a vision envisioned Clear back in the late eighties.
Speaker 2:Yep . Yep . And we'll bounce back to Dos Rios in a minute, but , um, tell me another question that I hear a lot of conversation about, and YI was gone, I stepped out of the valley, I was traveled for a little bit , um, for about a year and a half there, and , uh, came back and, and I'm still catching up on some of the hot topics . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So this is one that I wanna hear directly from you. Tell us about the 29 Road interchange with I 70.
Speaker 3:So I 70 and 29 Road , um, interchange has been , um, in the works, it was, it was originally contemplated when I 70 was built, you know, back there in the, in the late fifties and early sixties. Um, and they decided probably a little too soon. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And , um, and so it has been talked about pretty much since I, I got here 29 years ago. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, and finally here in 2 20 19 , um, we decided to advance a lot of what we are hearing as far as grant funding availability on that. Um, um, and financing there is that you need to have a match. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> for one , two, you gotta have at least through the environmental, you know, analysis and have permission from , um, permission from CDOT and from the Federal Highway Administration as well. Right. And so , um, so that's what we've been working on since about 2019. 2020. We had a , what we called our , um, um, planning and environmental linkages study, which is the first part of a much more rigorous study. We got to that and had agreement that Yep . Interchange is needed , um, and warranted , um, let's move forward. And so that's what we've been working on since then. And so now we are working on, on , on that on one front is finishing that up and hopefully be , um, with that project before the State Transportation Commission here in , um, um, late summer July and August. Okay . Is the timeframe that we're looking on there. Um, and then here in November we'd be , um, um, we're contemplating , um, another bond initiative , um, where we would seek voter approval. Um, you know, being able to represent that, hey, we've got the state's , um, state approval, we've got the Federal Highway administration approval, and , um, therefore we're just needing funding here that we'd be able to then apply for, you know, the various grants and so forth across , um, that'd be available. But you gotta have the match, you gotta show the match, you gotta show all that, all the other approvals. And so that's what we're working on , um, right now. In fact, we've got a meeting here this evening with , um, a couple of our council members and a commissioner and , um, administrator and so forth on, on kind of laying that path out , um, here as , um, well as our state transportation commissioner that represents , um, our region here. So anyway . Wow . So lots moving on there. The benefit of, of that, of that , um, corridor is it takes off some of the load of , um, of what happens at Horizon Drive, as well as what happens over there at Clifton extends the life of both of those facilities. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, as well as provide some connectivity, you know, for us. And , um, I mean, right there in the center part of the valley that'll serve, match it , that'll serve the entire 29 road corridor all the way down to Highway 50. And this is all part of , um, um, master plan that was, you know, created back in the late nineties, Uhhuh early two thousands. And , and the city and the county have been working on , um, jointly funding their respective pieces , um, coming up and over, you know, starting on Highway 50. The , the county built that coming up 29 Road across Orchard. Mesa built the bridge built up to D Road, and then we jointly funded from D Road up and over , um, I 70 B and then , um, down into North Avenue. But prior to that, we had jointly funded everything between North Avenue and Patterson. So now we've got left from Patterson up to the interstate. Got it. And then , um, and then the interchange itself up there, and there's about a oh , couple hundred acres worth of developable land that's not tied up with , um, the airport authority and so forth up there. Okay. So there's some development potential there, but really it's for, for connectivity for us, you know, throughout the, throughout the Valley and regionally to be able to get off there. You have Independence Academy, that's Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, um, it's a charter school that, that draws from all over the Valley. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, not just that immediate area, but all over the valley. Yeah . And so that'll really open , um, their commuters, you know, up rather than having to funnel everything through 29 Road and Patterson. Absolutely. And Match Park going in Magic Park going in. Yeah. Really excited about the , the community resource, or sorry, community rec center. Yes . Um , going in there clapping and , um, really excited about that $82 million, you know, investment there, that parks , um, and again, council and, and um, and credit to the , um, all the voters and so forth that , that voted that in. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So a thoughtful process, I would say . Absolutely . It took a while .
Speaker 3:It , that one took a while as well. It
Speaker 2:Took a while . Yes . Yeah. Yeah. Very excited . What, and , and so going back to the 29 road interchange, is there a, is there a target on the board that in the next five years, seven years, understanding that It depends on quite a few factors coming into play, but Right.
Speaker 3:So if there was a , a positive vote here yet this fall Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , uh, we would be looking at , um, um, uh, you know, applying for grants after that, but we'll still have, you know, a fair amount of work to do as far as , um, finishing up the , what we call 30% set of plans. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, engineering plans. And then from that we're able to build, or we're able to go out and acquire the necessary right of way , um, and easements for all the various utilities. And , and for, you know , 29 road right now is just 22 feet of asphalt. Yeah . And , um, and this thing, this will grow to , um, about five lanes , um, two lanes each direction, center turn lane with medians and then detached paths and um, um, bike lanes and Got it . And so forth , um, along that corridor. And so it'll take, you know, a much more ride of way than what we have right now, but we are, you know, working within that existing context to try to minimize the adjacent , um, property impacts. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , but , um, but yet still maximize the , the benefit long term for the community coming in and out of there. So yeah. Really excited about that. So to answer your question, Uhhuh <affirmative> is , um, so the right of way acquisition would probably take us about a year to year to 15 months, and then we'd be under construction for about 22 months, 22
Speaker 2:Months. So it could,
Speaker 3:Five years, could be as soon as 26, 27 amazing . Is what we'll be looking at. Wow.
Speaker 2:Wow. So many steps. Do you ever just get exhausted ,
Speaker 3:Um , just keep plugging away? You just keep plug . You've got so many different projects that are all moving and some move faster than others at times. Yeah . And, and , um, yeah . Um , sometimes it feels a little more like herd cats, but we try to keep 'em more like sheep and kind of keep 'em all corralled and moving forward. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> and creative solution problem solving I'm sure as well. Yep . The , uh, I've been in meetings with you and I've seen you walk in with your caddy of files. You're just a mobile office. Yes . You carry everything with you and it's Yes.
Speaker 3:Uhhuh <affirmative> . Yeah. And , and some of that's cultural. Um, you know, one is we don't like to be on our screens Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> in a meeting. We wanna be face to face with folks. Um, and , um, so, but if you are hiding behind a laptop, you know, and so forth , uh, not too cool. And so , um, and then also scrolling through, oh, I know where that file is. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> scrolling through all that can be rather , um, clunky as well. And they're going, well, are they paying attention to me? Are they responding to some email they got right before this or one that just came in? And , um, so just kind of disrespectful that way. Yeah . I wanna maximize our time with the, I mean, in that meeting and not have to schedule yet another meeting. Well, let me go look that up and if , if I've got the information and I've got it right there at my fingertips, I can scroll through it really quickly, pull that out. No , this is what was decided on this date, and, and yes, this was the path forward and , um, um, so forth . So that's where I, you know, especially with Dos Rios. Yes. I had a very large Yes. Um , filing, filing system for that that I brought to most meetings, but
Speaker 2:Impressive. Um ,
Speaker 3:Um, anyway, but yeah. Fun stuff.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> anything else that we we're coming up on? And , um, again, being a time kit , we already broke some rules. We've already thrown the headsets away and done all that, but we're not gonna break the rule of, of how much time we have. Um, anything else that is pertinent that's on top of your, your radar that you wanna make sure the public knows about or, you know , exciting to share?
Speaker 3:You know, we're just really excited about , um, you know, the, the , the growth and development that's coming here and us, you know, being able to, you know, manage that as best we can. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, so we're working through, you know, our new zoning and development code, our new, you know, transportation engineering design standards and so forth. But, but really the projects that were , that were approved by voters back in 2019, November, 2019, we had 10 of those. Um , we're still , um, working on those. The first of that was 24 Road and G Road, the intersection there, the widening of 24 Road , the improvement of G Road in between 23 and a half and 24 and a half . But we have a number of others that just broke ground . They're on f and a half Parkway. Okay . In between 24 and 24 and a half . Um, second phase of that will be out later this year, awarded beginning of next year. Um , that'll, that'll continue that on down towards the intersection of 25 Road and Patterson and provide a , a , a great alternative route, you know, to get folks up to what will be the oid of growth. Um, here for the next, you know, next 20 years as you know, is , is , you know, you get Costco that comes in on the northeast corner up there and you've got a number of other, you know, very large parcels, you know, that develop of which, you know, community hospital. Yeah . Um , was one of the first ones, you know, out there. And then of course , um, um, cap Rock , you know , academy over there and then , you know, the , and then the ever , um, community favorite there at Canyon View Park. Yes. So we've got those, we've got , um, improvements coming at , um, G Road 27 and a half , and Horizon Drive. We've got a new roundabout there. Then we've got some other projects on B and a half road , um, in between 29 and 29 and Threequarter Road. That'll be kind of a safe route to school to the benefit of Lincoln Om , um, on d and a half Road. We've got from 29 and a quarter over to over to 30 to the benefit of Pear Park Elementary. And then , um, yeah, 26 and a half road going out to Paradise Hills. And I'm finally getting folks after 50 years that they've been out there, finally get 'em something else to come to work on or come to work and come to the community on, other than, you know, the 22 feet of asphalt that's been there,
Speaker 2:My <crosstalk> . So that was like a speed round of everything . I'm just, I keep bumping the microphone 'cause I'm leaning in listening.
Speaker 3:Yep . So we've got amazing that going on. And then we've got Crosby Avenue down , um, connecting West Main over to where the rail yard , Walmart , the Rim Rock Shopping Center. Yep . Um , and so forth. So we're excited about that. We've got a large , um, grant in participation with , um, with cdot , um, to a tune of about a million dollars for that two and a half million dollar project. Um, so significant investment there from , um, from a program called the Revitalizing Main Streets . So we're excited about that. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> multimodal path , um, you know , um, definitely kid friendly, senior friendly , um, um, path to get you in between Main Street and there. And as we have that , um, the Big Rich Mark project, you know, right there at the Old City market site at first Maine, 256 new apartment units going up there, they'll be able to get out to, you know , the grocery opportunities , um, out there at Rim Rock . Um , just that , that easier, that much easier than Yeah . Than , um, what they could now. Beautiful.
Speaker 2:So anyway.
Speaker 3:Beautiful. That's awesome. Fourth fifth Street downtown. Um, that'll be a great , um, repurpose of some space, existing space down there that we're gonna pilot , um, there with a cycle track Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> there and some parallel parking and, and so forth. And that'll , um, come here before council here in May , um, for, for award . And so that's some of the work in through the downtown , um, there , coming up here in June, July.
Speaker 2:Exciting to time, exciting time to live and be a part of all the work and all of the , um, you know, the , the shifting that has taken place decade by decade to be in Grand Junction in the Grand Junction area right now. And then looking forward another, even just five, 10 years, and how we have really kind of found our skin it seems Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> more than ever before. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , I think we're always the best version of what we can be. Every, I I continually say that, just continually proud of where we live. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and, and have invested. I've been here since 93. You've been here since 95. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , uh, we've seen so many changes and , um, they've been thoughtful changes and, and , uh, by design with intention and , uh, and our leadership has really grabbed hold of that and taken it and , and now we're, we're making things happen. Yep ,
Speaker 3:Sure
Speaker 2:Are . It's exciting. Yep .
Speaker 3:Yeah. And just all the collaborative relationships here that we have to rely on. I mean, for, for me it's cdot , I mean, it's Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife. It's , um, Colorado Parks and Wildlife. It's , um, Mesa County, you know, is one of our close partners on so many different projects and the Downtown Development Authority, the Horizon Drive , business Improvement District, and then, you know , um, one Riverfront and Rivers Edge West and Colorado West Land Trust and all of those. And it is just, it's just a smile. All the different relationships that we have here that then crossed paths , um, when we're out on the trails, out on the river or at various social events has just been awesome at
Speaker 2:The grocery store, et cetera, et cetera . Yeah . And then you , and then the private sector and those individuals that really carry the passion into to really infuse and, and , uh, and , and make things possible. You guys, you know , I understood, I not to, I'm gonna wrap us up, but I, I was listening in , um, this is back when we were working on do Rios Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , uh, and I , I listened to , uh, a member of the , uh, a municipality different from Grand Junction that talked about, you know, really , um, the , the, the bureaucracy of a municipality is really designed to protect and , um, make sure that they're keeping the pace of the community at large and de-risking Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, factors and , you know, a lot of mitigation, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . But it's the, it's the passion of the private sector when that comes into play, and then triangulating that with, with nonprofits to make sure that the community as a whole is represented. But, but when that call it an individual or a group of individuals that come in from the private sector, that, that bring that passion and then carry it through to work with the city to then bring something, a new vision to fruition and how beautiful that process is. That's not necessarily the city's job. The city's job is to , is to , um, find possibility and find solution. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> keeping its community at large in mind and making sure that it does not present new risk for them. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And it's, it was really , um, it kind of , it helped me pivot a little bit and really understand the importance of, of the individual in that, in that formula as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And , uh, we all have a responsibility here. Yep . We sure do.
Speaker 3:Citizenship. Yes. Right .
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. On that note. Yep . All right . Trent Paul , when are you hitting the river? Next?
Speaker 3:Uh , not until this weekend. Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, that's, you've got a few days only because
Speaker 3:I've got night meetings, otherwise we'd be out there this evening, so.
Speaker 2:Understood. Anyway. Understood. Yep . Well, we'll see you out on the trails.
Speaker 3:All right . Sounds great. Okay.
Speaker 2:High five , buddy, <laugh> . Thanks. Thanks Trent. Yep . Alright . This was Jen Taylor and Trenton pr , the director of Public works for the City of Grand Junction. I don't think I've formally introduced you as your title in the beginning, but now We'll , yeah. The, the cliffhanger has now been , uh, revealed , um, with the City of Grand Junction. This has been a really wonderful time to sit with you and really listen firsthand to what's happening and, and how things came to be and , uh, yeah.
Speaker 3:Really appreciate the interest. Yeah . We lot , we had a great story , um, here over my last 29 years has , um, definitely been , um, been a joy. Mm-hmm . So ,
Speaker 2:Yep . Good stuff. Well, we, we , under your leadership and guidance, we, we are very appreciative, so thanks. We're a lucky community. All right . We're signing out. This is Jen Taylor with the Kristi Reese Group. Thanks for joining us and Trent, we'll see you on the trail. Yep .
Speaker 3:Thanks again, Trent.
Speaker 2:Ciao .
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. This is Kristi Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.