Up next in our tour down the West Corridor is the Sheridan Station. This station isn’t as accessible right now as the Knox and Perry Stations were due to construction, so we don’t have as many close up pictures of the station platform. However, I believe the pictures give a good idea of the set up at this station.

 

As you can see, the station is located beneath the new Sheridan bridge which was constructed as part of the West Corridor project. Sheridan used to dip down into the gulch, but with construction of the light rail line, either the roadway or tracks needed to be raised. RTD, in coordination with CDOT and the cities of Denver and Lakewood (Sheridan Blvd. is the boundary between the two), worked on several plans during the West Corridor planning process. The road was originally going to be elevated above the tracks (as constructed), but prohibitive costs associated with the required temporary bridge construction proved that plan unfeasible. RTD then proposed leaving Sheridan as it was in the gulch while taking the light rail tracks up and over the roadway. The municipalities didn’t like that plan, so a compromise was struck with CDOT in which RTD was able to take Sheridan Blvd. (a state highway) down to one lane in each direction for up to two years. This allowed RTD to construct half of the bridge structure while motorists traveled on the old roadway. Once half of the new bridge was complete, motorists were moved to the new structure and the other half was constructed. More on this new bridge will be covered in a later blog post.

 

The Sheridan Station also has one of three parking structures along the corridor. The 800-space structure is currently under construction just north of 10th Avenue on the west side of Sheridan. Thanks to Brenda Tierney (West Rail Line Public Information Manager) and RTD, we have a slick picture of the current construction. The station will be accessible from the south by a walkway from the garage, stairs and elevators from the Sheridan bridge, as well as from a walkway for residents to the north of the platform.

Next week, we will take a look at the Lamar Station.