Between Downing Street and University Boulevard, the Cherry Creek Trail leaves the water and climbs to street level. For about a mile it runs along the south side of 1st Avenue as a strip of concrete 8 to 9 feet wide. Denverite described that mile as a path "squeezed between the shrub-covered fence of the Denver Country Club and the fast-moving traffic of First Avenue." Walkers and riders going both directions share what the outlet called "a glorified sidewalk." The city's own standard for a regional trail is 12 feet.
The City of Denver has a plan to fix it. As of October 2026, though, the only piece of that plan with a dollar figure and a finish year is the intersection at the east end. The trail itself is still a concept drawing.
The mile the trail can't avoid
Most of the Cherry Creek Trail follows the creek on separated paths. Here, Denverite noted, it "takes a long detour to avoid the country club property," which it called "a noisy and dramatic shift from the quietude of the creek." According to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the trail comes up to the Downing Street bridge at Lafayette Place. From that point east, the path, the curb, and three lanes of traffic sit side by side.
The city's November 2025 meeting boards put numbers on the corridor. About 600,000 trail users pass through each year, and 89 crashes were recorded along the corridor over the past five years, 4 of them involving people biking or walking. The city's FAQ points to a winter problem as well. Plowed snow gets pushed to the road edge and can spill onto the trail, which shrinks the usable width further.
On Bike to Work Day in June 2025, city engineers set up a booth on the trail near the Cherry Creek mall, where DOTI engineer Marie Thoming showed riders the revamp plan. Ryan White, one of the riders who stopped by, described the stretch this way:
"There's often debris from crashes and things that are on the path. It's just the least safe feeling portion of an otherwise very beautiful and safe and nice path that I think is kind of the defining feature for cycling in general in Denver."
Mary Roberts, who told Denverite she rides the trail often, said "along the Denver Country Club, it's always an issue."
Why the fix runs through the median
The city studied six ways to give the trail more room and chose a seventh. Here is why each of the six fell short, according to DOTI's FAQ:
- Remove an eastbound lane. 1st Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Denver and a planned Bus Rapid Transit corridor. Losing a lane would make BRT difficult or impossible.
- Shift the curb north about 1.5 feet. This would still mean a full curb, sidewalk, and drainage rebuild, and it would produce a 9.5-to-10-foot trail that still misses the 12-foot standard.
- Add jersey barriers. Spacing rules would put the barriers on the trail itself and cut the usable width to 6 feet.
- Move the trail to the north side of 1st Avenue. This would add 8 to 10 new conflict points at cross streets and could force major changes to the Downing Street bridge.
- Build center-running bike lanes. Riders would have to cross traffic to get on and off, and most of the median trees would come out.
- Route the trail onto Denver Country Club property. This would mean land acquisition, separating golf play from trail traffic, rebuilding course infrastructure, creek impact studies, and work around club structures near the property line.
The option that won narrows the planted median and moves the eastbound lanes north, which opens room on the south side. The boards compare today's street with the concept like this:
| Element | Today | 30% concept |
|---|---|---|
| Cherry Creek Trail | 8–9 ft, attached to the curb | 12 ft minimum |
| Buffer between trail and traffic | None | 8 ft minimum tree lawn |
| Travel lanes | Three lanes, 30–32 ft total | All lanes kept for future BRT |
| Center median | 20–24 ft, planted | Narrowed, with green infrastructure |
The tree lawn is also a historic correction. 1st Avenue here is a designated parkway. The north side already has an established tree lawn, but most of the south side between Downing and University never got one. DOTI says Landmark Preservation signed off on the preferred design before it was chosen. The city has not yet decided exactly how much the median will shrink. It says tree experts have assessed the entire median and are working to minimize impacts on existing trees. Denver7 reported that some median trees would be affected, and that DOTI expects the new south-side trees to produce a larger total canopy.
Where the money actually is
This is where the corridor splits into two separate timelines.
The trail widening. DOTI held a virtual public meeting on June 18, 2025 and an in-person meeting on November 15, 2025, where it presented the concept design. The outreach drew more than 400 community members across both phases. The current work only takes the project to "30% Design," a preliminary stage used to set scope and estimate cost so the city can seek construction funding. The city's page says a construction timeline "is not yet known" and that a project of this scale could take several years from plan to build. Denver7 reported in October 2025 that available funding covered the 30% phase and nothing beyond it. The project page still lists the status as "Design."
A District 5 newsletter this year listed a $20 million "1st Ave (University to Downing)" item among the district's priorities for the 2027 budget. That is a council district's recommendation, not an approved appropriation.
The intersection at University. The 2025 Vibrant Denver Bond includes $5.7 million for "1st & University Intersection Improvements." The money is for safety upgrades for people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving, and could include signal changes and changes to the intersection's geometry. At Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer's District 5 Community Cabinet meeting on April 7, 2026, the bond schedule showed design starting in Q4 2026 and construction finishing in 2028.
Q4 2026 began three days ago. Design on the University intersection is due to start this quarter. The mile of trail beside the club, the stretch riders actually complained about, has no construction date.
The neighbor at the same corner
The University intersection is also where the Cherry Creek West redevelopment meets 1st Avenue. A resident at the April meeting asked whether the bond work would be coordinated with that project. Patrick Riley answered that the bond team needs to "get caught up" with Cherry Creek West, which was "slightly ahead right now." He said the bond team and DOTI would coordinate to minimize disruption, especially during heavy-traffic periods such as Black Friday. For anyone who reaches the trail from the University end, that corner is set for several years of activity on two overlapping schedules.
The outreach summary shows the public expected some version of this gap. People asked about funding, construction detours, and neighborhood impacts, and some asked for interim safety work if the full project did not move forward soon. DOTI's FAQ explains why it passed on short-term fixes like a small curb shift or barriers: money spent on a substandard fix would take away from the permanent project. The research turned up no announcement of an interim treatment for this stretch as of October 2026.
This fall and winter on the trail
Two scheduled items affect the trail between now and spring.
- Bridge work downstream. DOTI says repairs on the North Bannock, 8th Avenue, and South Bannock bridges over Cherry Creek at Speer Boulevard begin in fall 2026, with a full closure of each bridge. The project page gives no exact dates and no trail detour details. That page is the one to check before riding toward downtown.
- Snow on the narrow stretch. Denver Parks & Recreation maintains off-street trails. When more than an inch of snow falls, trails are to be plowed within 12 hours after it stops, with hard-to-reach snow removed by hand and ice treated with gravel or environmentally safe products. Along 1st Avenue, the trail sits right against the curb where street plows push snow, which is why DOTI's own FAQ names it as a winter problem.
The project lists Marie Thoming as its contact and has a sign-up form for updates on the city's 1st Avenue Redesign page. The next milestone to watch for is a published cost estimate from the 30% design, because the city needs that number before it can apply for construction money.
Public works schedules like the 2028 date at 1st and University shape how buyers see the blocks around them. Ashton White follows projects like this along Denver Country Club's edges and can show you how they fit into your home's story when you're ready. Get Your Home Value, and we'll factor in what's coming to 1st Avenue.