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Hawthorne Street opened last week in eastern Hayden

Blythe Terrell

Hayden town officials reported progress around the new police station on Hawthorne Street.

The town’s financing deal with Alpine Bank is set to go through Thursday, Town Manager Russ Martin said. That lease-purchase agreement will provide funding for the $2.3 million building, which is expected to open next year.

The new street on which the station will sit, an extension connecting Routt County Road 37 to U.S. Highway 40, opened Friday. The town is awaiting more Colorado Department of Transportation approvals and speed limit signs around that road. Cars were traveling up and down Hawthorne with no problem Tuesday afternoon.



“Signage is coming,” pledged Martin, who is concerned that the new road is difficult to see.

Also on Tuesday, the Routt County Energy Impact Prioritization Committee ranked energy impact grant proposals. Hayden’s request for Poplar Street improvements took the No. 1 slot out of the four requests, Martin said.



The project would upgrade drainage and add a sidewalk along Poplar from U.S. 40 to Dry Creek. It is expected to cost nearly $1.1 million, and CDOT will fund part of that, Martin said.

The town is seeking $627,500 from the Department of Local Affairs through energy impact funding. The town must match with $275,000, and a CDOT grant will pay for $175,000, Martin said.

The project ranked ahead of requests from Steamboat Springs, Milner and Routt County. Steamboat requested funds to get land for a public safety building in western Steamboat, Milner requested money for wastewater system improvements, and the county sought money for slide repairs on Routt County roads 76 and 86 – the Cog Road slide and the Elkhead slide.

The prioritization committee consisted of officials from across the county, Martin said. Its suggestion will go to DOLA as it determines how to spend energy impact funds.

“I think all of them are good projects,” Martin said. “It was hard to decide.”


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