“I think we view ourselves as a somewhat unique, engaged, and affluent community,” says Michael Penny, City Manager of Castle Pines. “There’s pretty dense, larger communities on either side of us. But when you drive into Castle Pines, there’s a sense that you can take a breath because there’s not a lot of commercial development. It’s mainly residential. So, you feel like it only took you 10 minutes to leave the mall and now you’re completely away from the city.” The landscape tells the story: forested hills thick with Ponderosa pine and Gambel oak, rock outcroppings framing panoramic views of Pike’s Peak and the Front Range. Fourteen miles of paved trails wind through the community, supporting an active outdoor culture that defines daily life here. A Life Time facility currently rises from the ground, joining another gym set to open soon.“People like to ride their bikes, they like to walk,” Penny notes.“We’re building more trails, improving the signage for those trails, and improving the outdoor experience for the community.” THE $42 MILLION GAME CHANGER Interstate 25 slices Castle Pines nearly in half, creating two distinct worlds within the city’s nine square miles. The west side, developed since the 1980s, hosts established neighborhoods of highend single-family homes where prices start at $750,000 and climb past the millions in select areas. Three investment companies own the commercial properties here, nearly 100 percent leased, generating steady returns but offering little room for the main street atmosphere residents desire. The east side tells a different story. Across 3,500 acres, new development is transforming open land into the city’s commercial and residential future. Currently, access remains limited to Castle Pines Parkway, creating bottlenecks that a $42 million interchange project aims to eliminate.An additional $6 million in potential funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation could support bridge replacement as part of the overall improvement. “This interchange is really going to free up the east side of town,” Penny explains. “Right now, they only have access via Castle Pines Parkway. This interchange is going to allow a much greater free flow of traffic and easier access if you want to go south toward Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, wherever you’re going south on I-25.” The Happy Canyon interchange will employ a diverging diamond design, an innovative traffic pattern that shifts vehicles to the left side of the road, eliminating dangerous left-turn conflicts. 129 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 07, ISSUE 01 CASTLE PINES, CO
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI5MjAx