Green Mountain Trail Reroute

Green Mountain Trail Reroute
The Lakewood Parks Division is rerouting a segment of the Green Mountain Trail at William F. Hayden Park this spring to improve sustainability and the user experience. The section of trail planned for reroute is located southeast of the Rooney Road Trailhead. The existing trail follows the fall-line of the slope that has created several issues including trail widening and braiding, erosion and rutting. Widening damages park vegetation and results in the spread of invasive weeds and overall degradation of the natural resource. This section of trail also tends to hold snow in a way that can cause multiple weeks of run-off as the snow melts, resulting in the formation of significant trail ruts.

What to expect
City staff are rerouting the trail several hundred feet to the west to move the trail onto the side-slope, allowing a new trail segment to be built that meets sustainable best practice standards. The reroute will be constructed at a 4-foot width, with design features to prevent erosion including out sloping, drainage dips, and spaced, rolling-grade dips. The grade of the new segment will be kept below 10% to help prevent erosion, and is designed to meet the needs of all trail users. Construction will occur using a mini-excavator for the initial trail cutting, with hand crews finishing the construction this spring or early summer.