On the corner of Two Rivers Road and Cottonwood Drive, there’s a rainbow crosswalk. There are also flexible plastic poles to keep cars further from pedestrians. In a few weeks, the adjacent Emma Bridge will also undergo several upgrades to make it feel more like a park.
Catherine Christoff, an engineer for the Town of Basalt, called the area a “well-loved connection point,” close to RFTA stops, 7-Eleven and the elementary and middle schools.
“There's just a lot of traffic that goes on there, and I think unless you're in that area, not a lot of people realize really how busy it is,” she said.
The town applied for a Safe Routes grant through the Colorado Department of Transportation and received $573,200 to make the area safer.
To help them design the final project, town staff enlisted Girl Scout Troop 17080, made up of local fourth and fifth graders. In 2024, the girls visited the site to brainstorm ideas with the help of landscape architecture firm Design Workshop.
Hazel Parenti, now a seventh-grader, is one of the scouts who helped with the design.
“It was just really cool to see what everyone's imagination could come up with,” she said.
The girls thought that the intersection, and the town in general, could use some more color — that’s where the rainbow crosswalk came in. And many of the scouts, including Hazel, also wanted to make it safer. While walking to school and around town, they noticed a lot of traffic.
Another scout, Hadley Peck, said it’s been rewarding to see their ideas come to life.
“I felt really good to see that our designs were actually being used in everyday lives, and that people would actually see the work we put into it,” she said. “And I love how it wasn't just one design that was picked — how we all kind of mashed them together and made something really cool.”
The project helped Hazel understand how the town works and how young people can effect change.
“We got to, as kids, … see ways to make our town better,” she said.
She hopes other towns can learn from Basalt and incorporate youth feedback.
The town intended to finish bridge construction by the start of this school year, but it still has a few weeks to wait before the area is fully upgraded, Christoff said. The bridge will remain open during the final construction stages.
Christoff said this isn’t the first time the town has collaborated with youth on improvement projects like this, and it likely won’t be the last.
“It's always, I think, really as much fun or probably more [fun] for the adults than it is for the kids,” she said.
