THORNTON – Developments are arising across Thornton in order to serve the growing population of the state, specifically by addressing the needs of transportation and recreation.

The city is seeing the introduction of FasTracks N-Line running north to south between Colorado Boulevard and Washington Street as well as the addition of the Trail Winds Recreational Center on Holly Street and 136th Avenue across the street from Horizon.

As seen on the City of Thornton 2018 Adopted Budget, a total of $40.4 million was spent on the construction of the Trail Winds Recreational Center. This amounts to 68.4% of the budget for the Special Revenue Funds Capital Improvement Program– which includes the city’s Parks and Open Space Tax Revenue– and nearly 11% of the more than $368 million total budget.

Expected to open in the fall of 2019, the location would feature aspects such as a climbing wall, elevated walkways and jogging tracks, and an aquatics area, among others.

Junior Natalie Hinojosa views the construction of the Trail Winds facility as unnecessary. “We don’t need it. We don’t need to spend money on stuff like that because there [are] so many recreational centers [around] … there is no need for building any more.”

However, French teacher Madame Zancanella sees the Recreational Center as a benefit to the public. “A community needs a common place to go to pursue hobbies and activities … it is a necessary component in every community.”

Aiding the citizens of Thornton with transportation rather than entertainment, the expansion into north-western Adams County along the FasTracks N-Line is linking the surrounding neighborhoods with downtown Denver into Union Station.

Locations of the Park-n-Ride stations along the N-Line are being tested and built, and include Eastlake Avenue and 124th Avenue on Claude Court, 112th Avenue and York Street, and the Thornton Crossroads on 104th Avenue near the Carpenter Recreation Center.

Trains that will be working along this route will be capable of speeds up to 79 mph and hold enough seats for 91 people, but have a capacity of 170 commuters on average.

Other stations are also being built further south, and planned additions travel northwards to Highway 7– eventually totaling 18 miles of tracks.

“It’s cool: [it’s] easier transportation and [fewer] people would be driving. Traffic is already really bad, so it would be able to clean some out,” says Hinojosa.

Madame Zancanella agrees the trains will be satisfying a needed alternative to the busy and expensive roads of the area.

“The I-25 corridor is so packed with people heading south to work in the city and southbound beyond that to DTC … the average commute is way too long … [The cost] doesn’t allow the average citizen to use it.”