To commemorate the competition of the Olde Town Arvada semi-permanent pedestrian area and the completion of Phase One of the Ralston Road Improvement Project, the City of Arvada held the largest ribbon cutting in the city’s history, with more than 150 people holding a 2,000 foot ribbon that encircled Grandview Avenue and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard on Oct. 15.

The ceremony began at 4 p.m. and was put on by the city team, Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Olde Town Business Improvement District and the Arvada Resiliency Task Force. Arvada Mayor Pro Tem Dot Miller and Olde Town BID Director Joe Hengstler gave remarks praising the community’s resilience throughout a challenging year.

“Olde Town’s been through a lot, and I think it really speaks to the resilience of our community to see what we’ve created coming out of this pandemic,” said Hengstler.

Miller praised the street closures for providing more outdoor accessibility to the district.

“We and the city have really been working together to bring people here and get them outside,” said Miller.

John Firouzi, Arvada’s Manager of Mobility and Planning Innovation, said that over the next five years, his team will collect data on closure to determine if the semi-permanent closure will remain in place on a permanent basis.

“The phasing that we’ve discussed with the public was initially that the temporary closure would be the first year of doing things, so it’s very much temporary, and the semi-permanent is five years,” said Firouzi. “And then while we’re going through the semi-permanent closure, my team will be collecting data on pedestrian, bicycle, parking and motor vehicle traffic, deliveries and everything to assess things in that five-year period.”

Firouzi added that his team would continue to do outreach and planning with the public and would share the data they collect before presenting a plan for the next phase in June 2026.

Arvada Mayor Marc Williams said the closure has strengthened the local community.

“The semi-permanent changes in Olde Town are consistent with the City’s overall response to the pandemic,” said Williams in a statement. “By collaborating with our partners, by working decisively to address the needs of our business community and by learning from our experience during the pandemic, we make our community even stronger than it was before.”

Oct. 15 also marked the completion of Phase One of the Ralston Road Improvement Project, which addresses roadway, accessibility, pavement conditions, and needed aesthetic upgrades between Upham and Yukon Streets and began in Feb. 2020.

Phase Two of the Project, which covers the area between Yukon and Garrison Streets, began in June and will take about two years to complete,