Rock Island Greenway Advocates, the citizens’ group that supports turning the old Rock Island Railroad right of way away into a lengthy neighborhood park, have presented phase one of their redevelopment plan.

It will create a 4.5-acre public park just to the south of Mann Middle School and Stratton Elementary School between Templeton Gap Road and Paseo Road.

These underused and unattractive lands, separated from the two schools by a forbidding chainlink fence and thick tree and underbrush growth, will be turned into inviting public space that will be available for school activities.

When completed, the Rock Island Greenway will stretch more than 1 mile from Monument Creek, along the northern boundary of the Old North End and Bonnyville neighborhoods, to Paseo Road and beyond.

The stretch adjoining the two District 11 public schools will be used to demonstrate what the final development of the corridor park will look like. The plan was developed by a landscape architect and a storm-water engineer.

At present the land consists of a concrete-lined storm-water channel to the north. This channel is ordinarily dry but can quickly fill with rushing storm water during periodic summer thundershowers.

There also is a short stretch in active use of the Rock Island biker-hiker trail running east to west. In addition, there is a neglected berm (raised ground) that once supported the Rock Island railroad tracks, when the railroad was still in operation.

Old-timers will remember that before the 1970s, a short daily passenger train ran over these railroad tracks from Colorado Springs to Limon, 70 miles to the east. At Limon, the short passenger train was added to a major luxury passenger train running from Denver to Chicago overnight.

Similar passenger train service was provided in the opposite direction from Chicago to Colorado Springs.

The consultants’ redevelopment plan proposes taking out the concrete-lined drainage channel and replacing it with a natural, meandering, rocks and dirt streambed. During heavy summer thundershowers, the draining water will slow down and be spread out, not trapped in cement, and some of it will seep into the ground and be absorbed by the earth.

According to the storm-water engineer, this will reduce the volume and high pressure of water flowing from the drainage channel and slamming into Monument Creek, scouring its bottom. This is an approved “best practice” for draining and dispersing water during rainstorms.

The railroad track berm will be excavated, and the soil removed used to form the new biker-hiker trail bed. Unlike the railroad track berm, which was laid straight, the biker-hiker trail bed will meander back and forth along with the new streambed, thereby making for a more varied and interesting bike ride or hike.

Note that shifting the soil from the old railroad track bed to the new biker-hiker trail bed will save the cost of hauling the soil away and disposing of it elsewhere. Retaining the soil in this way also protects the houses south of the new greenway from flooding.

The formal engineering analysis concluded: “… The creek bed can hold as much water as the concrete ditch — and then some. Soil tests and more are needed, but the key analysis is encouraging.”

The reworked trail corridor will offer opportunities for displaying outdoor sculptures and other works of art. There also could be places where school classes could sit and listen to lectures and see demonstrations by their teachers. And picnic tables and benches will provide opportunities for students and trail users to eat a meal or catch a snack outdoors.

The consultants found the required changes to the railroad bed, and the creekbed manageable. They see the changes recommended for the Mann Junior High and Stratton Elementary School area as the precursors to a landscaped trail corridor that will extend in both east and west directions.

The end result will be a community gem that will turn unused land into further opportunities to get outdoors and away from traffic. Both children and adults we’ll have a new place to relax, exercise, study, and learn. And Colorado Springs will further declare its commitment to livable neighborhoods.

And now the hard part. Armed with consultant studies and a clearer vision of what the Rock Island Greenway will look like, supporters will get to work to raise the money and get the government support to make this vision a reality.