I live in Greenbelt Meadows and I assume my driving habits are fairly typical for living in this neighborhood. I use 55th going north around the East Boulder Rec Center about half the time I leave my neighborhood.

I especially use 55th going around the rec center whenever it is rush hour to avoid Foothills Parkway congestion. I will most often take 55th from either Baseline or Arapahoe depending on the amount of traffic on Foothills Parkway. I do this going either South or North in town. Julie Walls

Summary of East Boulder Community Park Planning Decisions

Nearly three years ago, the City of Boulder announced plans for a 54-acre East Boulder Community Park, which would be located immediately east of our neighborhood. In response, virtually all of the residents on Manhattan, Kewanee and Cimmaron signed a letter dated January 27, 1985 to Mr. James Piper, our City Manager. In our letter, we supported development of the new community park, but we also alerted City officials that if access to the park were not properly planned, Manhattan, Kewanee and Cimarron would become the gateway to the Park and would be overwhelmed with traffic and noise. As you know. Manhattan already carries far more traffic than it was designed for, and any increase would have a major impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Consequently, in our letter, we made two requests:

1. Design 55th Street as a compelling automobile access route to the new community park, and design a parking lot on 55th Street within the new park to accommodate the entire demand for user parking under normal operating conditions.

2. Establish immediately a formal residential cul-de-sac plan for the eastern end of Kewanee Drive, similar to the one recently developed on Illini Way, so that potential developers of the land east of Kewanee Drive would have to abide by the City's land use plan.

THE GOOD NEWS is that on July 28, 1986, the Parks and Recreation Board approved the attached master plan for the East Boulder Community Park. And, as you can see from the drawing, both of our requests have been granted:

1. A redesigned 55th Street (shown in red) is now planned as the principal access to the Park from both the north and the south. It passes through the eastern portion of the park, and has a connecting street along the southern boundary of the Park. The existing 55th Street (shown in orange) is a secondary access route from the north, but it is an essential access to the soccer fields (shaded area) which are planned for the western end of the Park in 1987-88. On-site parking lots (shown in yellow) are designed to accommodate the needs of Park users.

2. A formal cul-de-sac plan (shown in blue) will serve to prevent access from Kewanee and Cirnmaron to the Park and its neighboring subdivision, and thereby preclude an enormous increase In traffic on Manhattan. THE BAD NEWS is that despite final approval by various City boards, the attached document is only a plan on paper, which various political pressures may someday seek to change. Therefore, it is necessary for all of us to remain vigilant on this issue, and to stand firm in our expectations of the City to develop the streets, Park and subdivisions as shown in the attached plan.

TO: Kate Bernhardt, Parks and Recreation
FROM: Linda Macintyre, Public Works
SUBJECT: Hogan-Pancost Property
DATE: January 23, 1992

On January 14, several staff members met in the City Attorney's office to 
discuss issues related to the Hogan-Pancost property,
which abuts the East Boulder Community Park property to the south.
Jane Greenfield provided a list of questions, which included the
following three related to transportation:
...
3) The Hogan-Pancost property owners are interested in extending Kewanee
to the east. Is there a transportation or safety related reasone (as opposed
to a political reason) why this connection should not go through?
    There is no transportation or safety reason why Kewanee should not be 
    connected to future development on the Hogan-Pancost property. From
    a strictly transportation perspective, this connection is in fact
    desirable. However, during discussions on the future of traffic
    circulation in the area (related to the development of the park), 
    staff and Planning Board made assurances to the neighborhood on 
    Manhattan Dr. that this connection would not be made in the future.

Body --- Spense Havlick 9/15/2003 11:36:17 PM ---
There is circulating around planning department and around town a proposal to put 139 residential units on 23.6 acres of non city land near the East Boulder Community and Rec center. It has some fine designers involved but there are serious shortfalls that should be reviewed carefully. There are wetland issues. There are flood plain issues . No traffic study has been done to show those infrastructure impacts. I remember how we agreed to close Kewanee Drive when the Rec and Community center was built. This project wants to open that street with Manhattan Middle School right nearby.

PRE-APPLICATION MEETING SUMMARY
Date: October 9, 2002
...
Secondary, emergency only access can be provided by using Kewanee 
Drive to the northwest.