By Susan de Castro McCann
Redstone Review Editor

LYONS — “I was pleasantly surprised,” said Howard Armstrong, Lyons town administrator, referring to the news that the Town of Lyons was recently awarded $570,000 in Economic Stimulus Plan funding from the Denver Regional Council of Government, DRCG, to fund the Main Street Project.

Lyons has been trying to fund this project for several years but it was put on hold several times and it began to grow in size. Originally the Colorado Department of Transportation, CDOT, was going to pave Main Street as part of it paving project that began at the intersection of Colorado Highway 66 and U.S. Highway 36 and went west past Lyons. The town asked CDOT to hold off on repaving the downtown area until they could replace the water/waste water utility pipes under the street. That money was set aside in escrow waiting for the town to replace the infrastructure.

Then some members of the town board heard that stimulus money was available for projects that would qualify. On February 9, DRCOG announced a call for projects for anticipated transportation recovery funds and established a very tight submission deadline of noon February 13. The town submitted a total of seven projects for consideration; however, the Main Street Project was the only one that had an estimated construction completion date of on or before December 31, 2009.

Projects that were considered “shovel ready” received the highest level of consideration. The remaining projects remain under future consideration, but it is uncertain as to how or when funding will be available for the remaining projects.

“It is pretty surprising that Lyons was selected, because we were one of only eight projects,” said Jacque Watson, economic development and community and relations manager. “I think that Lyons was chosen because they wanted details for each project and we were ready, plus it had to be a regional transportation project and we have two state highways running through town. We hope to begin the project in October and have it completed in six weeks. Our goal is to have it completed by the Christmas Parade of Lights.”

The stimulus funds will be used to revitalize Main Street from Third to Fifth Avenues. The Main Street Project was one of eight projects selected by DRCOG under the Enhancement Funding Category where $4.7 million dollars were available.

Now the town will move forward on the project that has been on hold for years. Money has been set aside by the town for replacing the utility pipes and CDOT has the money set aside for the paving. The town also has a Transportation Improvement Plan, TIP, grant to do some work on the curbs and gutters. These funds will be used along with the recovery funds from DRCOG to complete the Main Street project.

“The total project above ground (without counting replacing the utility pipes) will be about $1.1 million,” said Armstrong. “We now have the money to do a more expanded project on Main Street. We got the recovery money because we were ready to go with this project. We will apply for as many other projects as we can. We submitted our budget for the Main Street project to DRCOG, but it has not been approved yet, so it is not a done deal yet.”

The streetscape part of the Main Street Project will include planting trees, shrubs, planters, benches, new sidewalks, street lighting and many other beautifications for Main Street.

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