Public weighs in on pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25 to Frontier Park

Yahoo

28-04-2025

CHEYENNE — Although many details remain unknown at this point, members of the public got their chance this week to weigh in on a proposed pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25 that would connect Frontier Park to a new parking lot on F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
A public meeting was held on the project Thursday night, and those who attended learned that details like the cost, funding sources and timeline remain unknown, since the project is still in its early phases.
Cheyenne City Engineer Tom Cobb said the reason for the bridge is threefold: to allow Cheyenne Frontier Days visitors to park and walk to Frontier Park, to allow pedestrian access between F.E. Warren Air Force Base and the rest of the city, and to open the potential for further development of the Greater Cheyenne Greenway path in the future.
At the meeting, two alternatives for the project were presented. The preferred alternative is the costlier option that would construct a new pedestrian walkway over the interstate directly from the parking lot to the west entrance of Frontier Park. The second option is to retrofit the Stinner Road bridge to allow pedestrian access.
The Stinner Road bridge currently runs over I-25, connecting the northwest part of Frontier Park to the Cheyenne Country Club. If the second option is selected, Hynds Road would also be converted to pedestrian-only access from Stinner Road to CFD Gate V12 during CFD shows.
I-25 pedestrian bridge rendering alternative 1
The preferred of two alternatives, which would construct a new pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25 to allow pedestrian access and develop a new 2,800-stall parking lot on a 36.5 acres of F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
I-25 pedestrian bridge rendering alternative 2
The second of two alternatives which would retrofit the Stinner Road Bridge to allow pedestrian access and develop a new 2,800-stall parking lot on a 36.5 acres of F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
Currently, the project is in the environmental assessment phase required by the National Environmental Policy Act, since the development concerns federal land, including the parking lot on the Air Force property and the connection over the interstate. This phase looks at the potential impacts of the project on air, water, noise, traffic, and cultural and biological resources.
'I know some of the folks asked questions that we don't have answers for yet. We need to make sure the project is environmentally sound before exploring the next phases of the development,' Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins wrote in his Mayor's Minute column this week. 'We will have additional public meetings for the next steps and answer the questions at each stage.'
Once the draft environmental assessment is complete, it will be released for public review and comment. Public comment on the project is currently being taken by the city at connect.cheyennecity.org/I-25Bridge.
When the environmental assessment is finalized, design and permitting for the project will begin.
The existing CFD Park-n-Ride lot during the summer event has a capacity of 1,300 parking spaces near the intersection of I-25 and Happy Jack Road, which is also located on Air Force property. If realized, this new development would eliminate the shuttles busing people from the lot to the park and allow people to walk directly from the new 2,800-stall parking lot to the park.
CFD CEO Tom Hirsig said CFD would still provide shuttles for some visitors with restricted mobility. He added there will be a fee to park in this lot during CFD, as there is in other CFD parking lots.
Around 30 people attended the public meeting to ask questions about the project and express concerns about certain elements of it. A common concern was the use of city funds to support this development, which some see as primarily benefiting CFD, a private entity.
Cobb said the development will be an asset to the city because it could be used year-round for pedestrian access and potential for Greenway connection.
'The intent is it's supposed to be open for the community and then have the base connect to the city,' he said.
Collins corroborated this sentiment, saying it is worth it to connect the 2,900 people living on base to the Greenway and the rest of the city.
'I think for all the money we spent on the Greenway, the more people we connect to it, the more value we get out of it,' he said. 'So, my hope would be that we can find a way to make that an access for people who live on the base to safely access the city and people who work on the base that live in the city to be able to ride a bike or walk to work.'
To access the parking lot, which Cobb said is around 90% through the design phase and has yet to be constructed, F.E. Warren AFB would allow access on Patriot Drive, and the road would be updated and extended to allow bus access.
Patriot Drive runs adjacent to the west side of I-25, north of the Randall Avenue exit at the Gate 1 entrance to F.E. Warren AFB.
As part of the plan, the existing fence on the east side of Patriot Drive would be moved to the west side to allow public access to the road, but restrict access to the rest of the base.
Representatives from F.E. Warren AFB said the new parking lot would also be separated with a new perimeter fence and be licensed out to CFD in the same way the existing Park-n-Ride is. However, any changes would need to be approved by Air Force officials.
Some attendees expressed concern that the traffic to the new lot during CFD could back up on Patriot Drive and potentially cause congestion on I-25 or Pershing Boulevard. City staff said they do not expect this to happen, but will keep it in under consideration when the project enters its design phases.
Representatives from the Cheyenne Country Club also attended the meeting to express some concerns about the project, particularly the potential impacts the second alternative could have on its property.
Some of these concerns included how the Greenway running through the property would impact the area and the potential to bring vandalism to the area, as has happened at Frontier Park in the past year. Another was the plan for dust mitigation during and after the construction of the project.
To address the first concern, Cobb said there are no current plans to make Greenway connections through the country club, and it is only something that could be considered in the future.
Matt Rhodes, a biologist with Tryhydro Corporation who is helping conduct the environmental assessment, said dust mitigation is being considered in the environmental assessment, and said he does not know what the considerations are post-construction.
He said he anticipates the environmental assessment will be approved, though he did not say when, and then the city will be able to move on to the design and permitting processes.