Users of the High Line Canal trail are going to get an easier way to cross the busy intersection of Hampden Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in two years under an agreement among Denver, Cherry Hills Village and Arapahoe County.

Each of them has signed to kick in $450,000 in local matches toward a $5.4 million project that will reroute the trail underneath both busy roads next to Denver’s Wellshire Golf Course. The rest of the money will come from federal funding that the Colorado Department of Transportation has confirmed to provide to Denver, which has been overseeing the project.

The Denver City Council on Monday night introduced both intergovernmental agreements, with final votes set for next week.

The trail currently left the canal at a bridge southwest of East Hampden Avenue and South Monroe Street, following Jefferson Avenue a few blocks east to Colorado. The trail followed Colorado north to Hampden, and users then must cross both roads at the intersection.

By Prakriti Neogi