07-03-2025
Boulder commissioners discuss signage on potential controversial greenway project
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A new trail project might need special signs to warn people about the contaminants in the soil.
The Rocky Mountain Greenway Project would partly cover what used to be the Rocky Flats nuclear production facility. It's a place where they used to make triggers for nuclear missiles.
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The meeting held Thursday afternoon was about putting up signs to give people who use the trail some basic knowledge about the potential risks.
The new trail would follow part of the notorious Rocky Flats site on the western side of Superior. The trail would connect the northern part of the Flats through Superior along U.S. 36 and up to Boulder.
'What's planned is this trail here that would pass through and under HWY 128 and then access the trails that are on Rocky Flats,' said Justin Atherton-Wood, a planner with Boulder parks and open space.
'These red X's indicate the location of existing pedestrian gates that trail users must open and close, like I said, to leave the Coalton trail to leave the facility,' Atherton-Wood continued.
Rocky Flats used to be a nuclear weapons production facility where workers made triggers for missiles. It was closed in the 1990s but left behind radioactive material like plutonium and uranium. Experts have said that's been mitigated.
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'We know that it has been reduced in the amount of plutonium that's there, but there's no dispute whether there is plutonium on the site from any party that I'm aware of,' said Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann. 'The federal government doesn't dispute that. No one disputes that.'
Now planners want to put up warning signs with a map of the property, rules and regulations, and an international symbol of radiation with a QR code with more information.
'The concerns that are present today are part of why we're here to talk today and offer alternatives for visitors to continue to enjoy public lands without necessarily accessing Rocky Flats,' said Atherton-Wood.
Commissioners didn't end up voting on the plan, but they did hear from a handful of experts who are worried the greenway would kick up contaminants creating potential cancer risks.
'Breathing plutonium contaminated air is the most dangerous way of being exposed to plutonium,' said Dr. Deborah Segaloff, with Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Randy Stafford, with Rocky Flats Public Health Advocates said, 'I am asking you to withdraw from the flat partnership and close connections to Boulder County Trails to Rocky Flats so people don't go on to that site and bring contamination back off of it.'
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Earlier this week, the Lyons Colorado Board of Trustees supported a resolution opposing the Rocky Flats Greenway trail, urging Boulder County to withdraw from the project.
That move comes after the Westminster City Council voted to end participation in the greenway trail. Broomfield dropped out of the Jefferson Parkway project, which was also slated to go through Rocky Flats.
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