Last Friday saw the official opening of the Eagle River Park with Eagle Mayor Anne McKibbin and Town Board Members on site to cut the ribbon. AEI staff, along with roughly 50 local residents attended the ribbon cutting on a perfect Colorado, bluebird day. Eagle River Park is a major improvement to what once was an underutilized dirt lot. Now the park boasts new foot paths, community gathering spaces, and of course a state-of-the-art whitewater park. As McKibbin noted, when I-70 was built, the Eagle River was re-routed increasing the grade making it an ideal location for a whitewater park.
The Eagle River Park is the culmination of many years of planning, approval, construction, and finally completion. With most projects, the question of funding was the initial hurdle of the project, but a voter-approved sales tax would end up being the answer. Due diligence, design, and approval were the next step where AEI worked with architects, CDOT, the Town, and contractors to make the project a reality. Then, construction could begin, but not without its own set of challenges; the water level had to be low enough to work in the river and unseasonably cool and wet weather affected other aspects of the project.
With summer weather coming (finally) this weekend, go out and enjoy Eagle's newest outdoor playground!