Eight months after announcing plans to build a pedestrian bridge onto the grounds of the state Capitol, Gov. Jared Polis is now asking Coloradans: Do you want this?
Polis announced Tuesday that his office was launching a public survey to gauge support for a $28.5 million proposal that would connect the western side of the Capitol with Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, creating a bridge across Lincoln Street.
Polis’ office has pitched the idea as a celebration of the state’s 150th birthday next year that will also showcase local artists and improve accessibility to the Capitol.
But criticism has mounted over the cost and need for such a bridge, which will alter the face of an iconic part of Denver.
The multiple-choice survey — available at co150walkway.com/feedback — will also ask Coloradans if they want a scaled-down version of the bridge, or if they would like to see some other project, either a major proposal or several smaller ones, in Denver or elsewhere in the state.
It’ll also ask if they want anything at all.
“We want to, really, have public ownership of this decision, and have people across the state decide what they want to do,” Polis said in an interview Tuesday. Given the “level of passion” surrounding the bridge idea, the governor said he wants to make sure “it’s not just the loudest voices, but it’s all the voices here that are registering what they want.”
The survey will be open to all Coloradans through Monday, and Polis said the results will be publicly released later next week.
The survey includes four questions and requires respondents to enter their zip code to participate. Polis’ office said the survey can only be filled out by one person per IP address (that’s the unique identifier for a device connected to the internet).
The search for public support comes two months after Polis’ office released initial renderings of the bridge — the designs for which have already cost $1.5 million — and after an initial advisory committee signed off on the plans, albeit with some reservations.
The legislative committee that is next set to discuss the bridge has already signaled skepticism, with that committee’s chair — Democratic Rep. Tammy Story — describing the project as a “bridge to nowhere.”
Other groups have voiced opposition, too: The Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods organization in Denver announced its opposition in June. The preservation group Historic Denver came out against the project in May.
Polis demurred when asked if the survey was always planned or if it was sparked by skepticism for the project. He said a previous survey asking for input had “very few” participants.
“I think people are just starting to talk about this stuff, and so I think now’s the right time to get a sense of whether people see it, do they want it, do they not want it?” he said. “I think it’s exactly the right time to do it.”
The results of the survey will be “a big part of informing what we do,” Polis said, and he hoped there would be a “decisive” showing of support or opposition.
The website’s preamble to the survey includes just over 1,000 words of positive background about the project. It also includes a video of Polis discussing the project (the video was released by the Mizel Institute, founded by megadonor Larry Mizel), alongside a separate video featuring blistering criticism of the project by 9News anchor Kyle Clark.
The bridge’s construction has been pitched as a joint public-philanthropic endeavor: The bridge itself will cost between $18 million and $20 million. The governor’s office has about $8 million in funds available for the project, leaving the rest to be funded by donations.
Several million dollars more will be needed for extra landscape and grading work; artwork by Colorado artists; and upgraded crossings at Lincoln and Broadway, the governor’s office previously told The Denver Post. Money for the other components would likely come from state coffers, such as maintenance funds, lawmakers said.
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