Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

A printing error in last week’s edition omitted the final

sentence from a story on Central City’s SOB issue. The story

should have concluded by saying: Fey told the audience he

wants to introduce several items to forthcoming council agen-

das, “to bring this all to a finale.”

season starts to wind down,

the cities of Central and

Black Hawk have begun

working on their separate

plans to repair or spruce

up their Main Streets – the

main roads that run past

most of the casinos in the

two areas.

Late last week, Central

City installed two sections

of asphalt to cover potholes

that were forming along

its Main Street, a decora-

tive brick passageway. The

city’s public works team also

repaired some of the most

problematic sinking sidewalk

bricks between Gregory and

Nevada streets.

The biggest surprise for

regulars was when the city

painted white parking lines

along Main Street. It was

the first time in years that

visitors – some of whom

struggle with parallel park-

ing – had a clear guide for

where to park. Before that,

parking was an “anybody’s

guess” situation.

During the changes, one

parking space was eliminat-

ed between Annie’s conve-

nience store and the Monte

Lobo when a “no parking”

sign was installed on the

nearby street light pole.

One of the newly painted

parking spots created a “do-

not-park” zone between the

fire hydrant and stop sign in

front of Dostal Alley. While

anyone with a driver’s license

should know they legally

shouldn’t park too close to a

hydrant or stop sign, the ab-

sence of a designated space

previously raised concerns

about what might happen if a

vehicle was parked too close

to the hydrant during an

emergency.

The question of when and

how to spend money on

rehabilitating Central City’s

Main Street has been debat-

ed for years. During a joint

meeting this month between

the Central City Business Im-

provement District and the

Downtown Development Au-

thority, the groups discussed

whether to install LED lights

on buildings along Main

Street from October to April,

when limited winter sun-

light makes the area appear

darker.

Officials and city council

members have also been

unofficially debating whether

Main Street should be com-

pletely rebuilt to improve

drainage—and who will cover

the costs.

Another question has been

whether the Main section

should be closed to motor

vehicles between Gregory

and Nevada Streets during

the summer months.

Supporters of the pedes-

attractive.

might prevent casino pa-

trons, including the elderly

and those with mobility

issues, from visiting Central

City. Consequently, the de-

cline in business could harm

both the casinos and Central

City, which depends heavily

on gaming-tax revenues to

fund city services.

Black Hawk’s Main Street

reaches from the Monarch

Casino Resort Spa at the

south end of the city to Greg-

ory Street at the north end.

While there are sidewalks on

both sides of the street, many

visitors opt to travel on the

free red shuttle buses to get

from casino to casino rather

than walk.

This summer, the city’s

public works crew has been

repairing small sections of

Main Street that were dug

up for various projects since

the street was last repaved in

2013.

The city council, at yester-

day’s (Aug. 27) meeting, was

scheduled to vote on spend-

ing $195,265 for Stolfus &

Associates to engineer and

design a resurfacing proj-

ect for the area. Since Main

Street’s last surface work, the

city excavated and repaired

all of its water valves con-

nected to the casinos. As part

of the upcoming work – the

date for which is unknown

– the engineering firm will

evaluate all 24 of the ADA

access ramps and crossings,

along with investigating sev-

eral drainage issues.

Once the study is finished,

Black Hawk is expected to

seek bids to install the new

street overlay sometime in

2026.

Several new employees for the Gilpin County Human Services department

were introduced to the Gilpin Board of County Commissioners in August. They

included Sydney Castaneda, Caseworker II; Megan Thompson, Caseworker II

Prevention Specialist; and Marie Cosby, Caseworker III. They were introduced by

Paige Sons, Child and Adult Protection Program Manager.

Photo by Don Ireland

Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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