5 Improvements That Make Grand Junction More Awesome

The Downtown Uplift was a major and sometimes painful undertaking for businesses that dealt with the construction and road closures. But, the end result was an absolutely beautiful downtown area that this community should be extremely proud of. From landscaping and fountains to new curbs, sidewalks and benches. The renovation has rejuvenated the feel of downtown Grand Junction.

The Colorado Riverfront Trail has been an on-going project for more than 25 years, but recent efforts to complete the connection between Palisade and Fruita have made it a heavily used destination for thousands of hikers and bikers. The trails are easily accessible and are very pet, family, and biker friendly.

The Riverside Parkway was intended to relieve traffic congestion on the ever-growing commercial area of Highway 6 & 50. It also provides a nice connection from I-70 to Highway 50 for truckers. It seems that motorists were a little slow to buy into the new road, but it is now seeing fairly high traffic counts and regular usage. It's one of those roads that you might not use regularly but when you do use it, is sure is nice to have it there.

Grand Junction has seen tremendous commercial growth in recent years along Highway 6 & 50, so much growth, in fact, the road simply could not efficiently handle the volume of traffic it was carrying. Upgraded signals, sidewalks, landscaping, added lanes and turn lanes have made a huge impact on the area. It is amazing how fluid the traffic flow is even during the highest traffic times.

Connecting Highway 50 to I-70B was a long-awaited and much-needed improvement and, of course, is just the next step in getting the road all the way to the interstate. But, even if 29 Road never reaches I-70, the benefits it has done makes it more than worth it. Now we wonder how we made it without this additional route over the river.