Mesa Co. to revamp sections of Orchard Ave. corridor

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Mesa Co. is planning on revamping sections of the Orchard Ave. corridor. Before construction starts, the county is asking residents for their input.

Mesa Co. held a public meeting on Tues. afternoon at the Long Family Memorial Park to connect with residents and answer their questions. Engineers are looking at what they can do to make Orchard Ave. better suited for various forms of transportation other than just cars alone. Plans are still in their early stages.

The area under consideration extends along Orchard Ave. from Warrior Way to 29 1/2 Rd. According to Mesa Co. Staff Engineer Erik Borschel, “We’re trying to make it a more friendly, multi-modal corridor to aid everyone who uses it whether it be driving, walking, biking, or riding the bus. Trying to accommodate everybody.”

Organizers put together Tuesday’s public meeting to get feedback from residents. The county is saying it wants to hear if residents are having any current issues with the road, and, if so, how those could be addressed. Borschel explained that, “We’re always getting feedback from residents on projects that can be completed, and certainly, as part of this project we’ve gotten plenty of feedback already from residents online through our website as to improvements we can make out here.”

As reported, the county is working with the City of Grand Junction to make similar improvements to the North Ave. corridor as well in a separate project. Borschel shared that, “This is a very preliminary stage at the corridor study level. We’ll get through this and get some preliminary plans developed, and over the next several years there’ll be the final designs made on specific segments of the corridor to get construction plans.”

The link to submit questions and comments to the county about the Orchard Ave. project can be found here.