Printed on 11/22/08
My View
By Rick Padden
So it seems we're going to have 5.2 miles of unused concrete surface skirting Berthoud for another year. The Parkway is unfinished and will not be ready to carry traffic in either direction until sometime next year.
Let's see, work might begin again in spring (May?), and it'll take about four months to complete the project after that, according to SEMA project manager Dale Merrill. That pushes the opening of the highway to late August, but I predict that the nationwide concrete shortage will delay the project even further, and the road will possibly sit unused through next winter as well.
I think it's time to get creative and put that road to use. Perhaps we could use the idle roadway to our advantage while it's just sitting there. Events held on the Parkway could entertain, educate and perhaps even bring in some money.
It is, after all, a very large, clean concrete surface with huge open spaces around it. There are no sign-posts or mile markers erected on the shoulders and no trees planted or guard rails in place to create roadside obstacles.
What a perfect place for a variety of events. There's electricity along the roadway for flashing signs and street lights, especially on the north end, which could be temporarily tapped to power vendors and public address systems
What a spot for a variety of races, eh? How about an invitational drag racing event? I'm sure they have some sort of portable light poles that could be used, and there's an area where the road is cut through the ground and spectators could watch safely from above. Too complicated? How about land sailing races?
A land sailer, also called a sand yacht, land yacht, or dirt boat, is basically a boat with wheels that moves via sail power on firm ground or paved surfaces. It's a sport that's gaining in popularity, and I'm sure racers would love to find a surface like the Parkway.
Bicycle races would be a natural as well, since folks complain these days about traffic delays with in-town races and safety issues are looming large now.
During the winter months, snowmobile races would be ideal. Where else could such an obstacle-free track be found? Dog sled races would represent a new, and novel event for Berthoud, and like land sailing, wouldn't require any special equipment or structures.
There could be commercial uses as well. Lease that sucker to a truck driving school for awhile. Or how about holding new and used car tent sales there instead of out at the ranch? How about mega flea markets?
Maybe Berthoud could start an ice sculpture competition, coordinated with the Holiday in Berthoud event? There's room for some real palaces out there.
There might be a few educational and training uses the Parkway could be put to as well. Open it up for driver's education classes. High school students could use that big bridge out there for physics classes, like those egg-dropping experiments. The bridge slopes gently off to each side, and what a perfect location it would be for the boy scouts to hold soap box derby races. And since portions of the road are scheduled to be torn up, lets turn our artists loose out there.
We could have the nicest looking highway in the state, for awhile.
The Berthoud Fire Protection District could surely use the site for accident training purposes, and the police could conduct driver training for officers there. Let em spin out all they want.
Could it be used as an airstrip for gliders? If nothing else, we should at least designate the Parkway as an emergency landing strip for aircraft in trouble.
I'm sure locals will continue to use the road for jogging, bicycling and ross-country skiiing, even though the state doesn't technically allow it, but lets push the limit here a bit folks; be creative, have some fun, bring people to Berthoud and make some money. Why not? There's obviously plenty of parking for any event we could dream up (I knew there was a reason it got named The Parkway).
It's just sitting out there miles of usable surface that's coned off and simply wasted. Call or email your state representatives, petition the town trustees and lets get this thing rolling. Challenge them to overcome any silly bureaucratic rules that might get in the way, and make something happen. Wouldn't it be amazing to see our elected officials take off on some of these ideas and turn a negative into a positive?
I'd love to see them pull it off.
I suppose there might be one other use for our belated Berthoud Parkway. When folks finally get fed up enough with the delays, it would be a great place for a protest march.
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Berthoud Parkway -fall of 2005
The Berthoud Parkway has been a frustrating highway project that seems to go on forever. Here is a tongue-in-cheek perspective written by Rick Padden for the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor.My View
By Rick Padden
So it seems we're going to have 5.2 miles of unused concrete surface skirting Berthoud for another year. The Parkway is unfinished and will not be ready to carry traffic in either direction until sometime next year.
Let's see, work might begin again in spring (May?), and it'll take about four months to complete the project after that, according to SEMA project manager Dale Merrill. That pushes the opening of the highway to late August, but I predict that the nationwide concrete shortage will delay the project even further, and the road will possibly sit unused through next winter as well.
I think it's time to get creative and put that road to use. Perhaps we could use the idle roadway to our advantage while it's just sitting there. Events held on the Parkway could entertain, educate and perhaps even bring in some money.
It is, after all, a very large, clean concrete surface with huge open spaces around it. There are no sign-posts or mile markers erected on the shoulders and no trees planted or guard rails in place to create roadside obstacles.
What a perfect place for a variety of events. There's electricity along the roadway for flashing signs and street lights, especially on the north end, which could be temporarily tapped to power vendors and public address systems
What a spot for a variety of races, eh? How about an invitational drag racing event? I'm sure they have some sort of portable light poles that could be used, and there's an area where the road is cut through the ground and spectators could watch safely from above. Too complicated? How about land sailing races?
A land sailer, also called a sand yacht, land yacht, or dirt boat, is basically a boat with wheels that moves via sail power on firm ground or paved surfaces. It's a sport that's gaining in popularity, and I'm sure racers would love to find a surface like the Parkway.
Bicycle races would be a natural as well, since folks complain these days about traffic delays with in-town races and safety issues are looming large now.
During the winter months, snowmobile races would be ideal. Where else could such an obstacle-free track be found? Dog sled races would represent a new, and novel event for Berthoud, and like land sailing, wouldn't require any special equipment or structures.
There could be commercial uses as well. Lease that sucker to a truck driving school for awhile. Or how about holding new and used car tent sales there instead of out at the ranch? How about mega flea markets?
Maybe Berthoud could start an ice sculpture competition, coordinated with the Holiday in Berthoud event? There's room for some real palaces out there.
There might be a few educational and training uses the Parkway could be put to as well. Open it up for driver's education classes. High school students could use that big bridge out there for physics classes, like those egg-dropping experiments. The bridge slopes gently off to each side, and what a perfect location it would be for the boy scouts to hold soap box derby races. And since portions of the road are scheduled to be torn up, lets turn our artists loose out there.
We could have the nicest looking highway in the state, for awhile.
The Berthoud Fire Protection District could surely use the site for accident training purposes, and the police could conduct driver training for officers there. Let em spin out all they want.
Could it be used as an airstrip for gliders? If nothing else, we should at least designate the Parkway as an emergency landing strip for aircraft in trouble.
I'm sure locals will continue to use the road for jogging, bicycling and ross-country skiiing, even though the state doesn't technically allow it, but lets push the limit here a bit folks; be creative, have some fun, bring people to Berthoud and make some money. Why not? There's obviously plenty of parking for any event we could dream up (I knew there was a reason it got named The Parkway).
It's just sitting out there miles of usable surface that's coned off and simply wasted. Call or email your state representatives, petition the town trustees and lets get this thing rolling. Challenge them to overcome any silly bureaucratic rules that might get in the way, and make something happen. Wouldn't it be amazing to see our elected officials take off on some of these ideas and turn a negative into a positive?
I'd love to see them pull it off.
I suppose there might be one other use for our belated Berthoud Parkway. When folks finally get fed up enough with the delays, it would be a great place for a protest march.
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