The lane shifts on South Havana Street south of RidgeGate Parkway mark the first piece of a walking and biking route that will run from the RidgeGate Parkway light rail platform, past historic Schweiger Ranch, over Happy Canyon Creek and into an 80-acre regional park.
Several agencies own those pieces, each with its own contractor and its own deadline. The City laid this out in an October 2 feature on the Havana Street Bikeway. It said the projects sit so close together that "their construction limits actually overlap," so the sponsors and contractors coordinate their schedules rather than tearing up the same ground twice. As a result, the route opens in stages. Some of it may be usable this winter, and the full run to High Note Park is expected in late summer 2027.
Here are the pieces in the order you would walk them, starting from the train.
Link One: Havana Street, Rail Way to Surrey Drive
The South Havana Street Bikeway runs from Rail Way to Surrey Drive. The City says it is "approaching its final stages of construction, with completion anticipated this winter." The project adds dedicated bicycle facilities, pedestrian improvements, ADA-compliant ramps and a new fully signalized intersection. The City describes Havana as "already a popular recreational bicycling route in northern Douglas County," and the goal is to make that stretch safer and better connected for people on foot and on bikes.
This link matters to everything after it. It "fills an essential missing link in the regional bikeway network, connecting RidgeGate Parkway with the Happy Canyon Creek Regional Trail," and it improves access to the RTD station, Schweiger Ranch and the neighboring Tall Tales Ranch. Until it is finished, the later pieces have no safe connection to the train or to the neighborhoods on the other side of RidgeGate Parkway.
The City of Lone Tree owns the project and runs the construction contract. The Colorado Department of Transportation and Rampart Range Metropolitan District are paying for it, and the District also handles inspection and materials testing.
For anyone using Havana this month, the City's project page lists lane shifts, delays, construction noise and short-term closures of the sidewalk and bikeway. ADA-compliant walking and biking access is supposed to stay open, with signed detours where needed, and no night work is expected.
Link Two: A Steel Bridge Over Happy Canyon Creek
Just south of RidgeGate Parkway, on the east side of South Havana, Douglas County is adding the next piece. It is a 140-foot pedestrian bridge next to the RidgeGate Parkway light rail station.
The Douglas County News-Press reported that county commissioners approved a $215,150 contract with Wheeler Lumber, LLC, for the bridge. It is a prefabricated Corten steel structure with a 12-foot-wide concrete deck, built off-site and trucked in. The paper noted that a similar bridge already stands on the East/West Regional Trail, which gives regular trail users a good idea of what to expect. The money comes from the state's Strong Communities Grant.
The bridge is the middle of a trail connector about 800 feet long and 10 feet wide. The connector leaves the Havana sidewalk, crosses the creek and meets the Happy Canyon Creek Regional Trail on the east bank. The News-Press reported that South Suburban Parks and Recreation will maintain the bridge once construction finishes in October. The Castle Pines Connection covered the January 27 approval and where the connector starts and ends.
The City lists five partners on this one piece: Douglas County, Lone Tree, Tall Tales Ranch, Parker Water and Sanitation District, and South Suburban Parks and Recreation. At the commissioners' meeting, Steve Shoultz, Douglas County's director of parks and recreation, explained where the bridge leads, as the News-Press reported:
"This trail will then connect into an existing Happy Canyon Creek trail and eventually to the High Note Regional Park, providing that critical connection from the RTD for eventual event parking."
The phrase "event parking" explains the plan. The train station is meant to serve as the park's parking lot on busy days, and this bridge is how people will walk from one to the other.
Link Three: The Creek Itself
Under and around the bridge, Mile High Flood District is managing the larger Happy Canyon Creek stream-improvement project with Lone Tree and Rampart Range Metropolitan District. The work stabilizes the creek channel and banks and builds sections of the Happy Canyon Creek regional trail.
This is the longest-running piece. The City's project page gives a June 2023 start and five phases. Phase I was finished in 2024, Phases II and III were expected by spring 2026, and the whole project is projected to finish in Q4 2026. That puts the creek work, the bikeway and the bridge all near completion in the same few months. This is the overlap the City described, with contractors handing work areas to each other rather than finishing in a neat order.
Link Four: High Note Park, the Destination
The route leads to High Note Park, an 80-acre regional park along Happy Canyon Creek. According to the City, the park was part of the long-range plan tied to residents' approval of the RidgeGate annexation in 2000. South Suburban Parks and Recreation reports that Phase 1 broke ground on April 29, 2026, and is expected to open in late summer 2027.
The City says Phase 1 alone will be the largest park in Lone Tree. The High Note Park page lists what it will include:
- Two lit synthetic multipurpose fields
- A playground and a play water feature
- A dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs
- A 200-seat beer garden and a food truck area
- Community gathering spaces and a parking lot
- The new Happy Canyon Trail, connecting to Schweiger Ranch and the East West Trail
The last item on that list completes the route. Once Phase 1 opens, someone could get off the train at RidgeGate Parkway, ride Havana, cross the new bridge, follow the creek trail into the park and keep going to the East West Trail. Each of those connections depends on a different agency finishing its own piece first.
The Ranch in the Middle of It
Historic Schweiger Ranch sits along this route, and it predates everything being built around it. The Schweiger Ranch Foundation's history says brothers John, Joseph and Jacob Schweiger founded the ranch in 1874. John had emigrated from Austria in 1866 and reached Denver in 1869. The family eventually grew the ranch to nearly 4,000 acres. Douglas County named it a historic landmark in 2004. The Foundation was formed in 2007 after the original 38 acres were donated, and restoration that began with grants in 2008 was finished in early 2016.
The ranch is also part of the construction story. Tall Tales Ranch, a nonprofit, is building its residential community on four acres leased from the Schweiger Ranch Foundation, across from the RidgeGate Parkway light rail station. The Castle Pines Connection reported that the project broke ground on August 12, 2026, and is expected to open at the end of 2027 or in early 2028. That is roughly when High Note Park is due, so the last pieces on both ends of the route are on a similar schedule.
The ranch has already hosted this fall's big gatherings. The City's Oktoberfest was held there on October 3 and the Fall Festival on October 4. Its next event works well around the construction. The Foundation's calendar lists the annual holiday lights display starting Thursday, November 26. You watch it from your car in the parking lot or from along Havana Street, the ranch complex is closed, and entry through the gates is not permitted. If the bikeway is finished by then, people may be able to walk or bike past the display along that same stretch of Havana.
What the Order Means for the Next Year
Put together, the schedule looks like this. Havana's bikeway is expected this winter. The bridge was scheduled to finish in October, according to the News-Press. The creek work is projected for Q4 2026. Then comes a long wait until High Note Park opens in late summer 2027. For most of 2027, people will be able to get from the train to the creek trail on finished paths, and the park those paths lead to will still be under construction.
The City says this route traces back to Lone Tree's first Comprehensive Plan, written soon after the city incorporated. That plan called for "a network of tree-lined streets and trails connecting attractive community facilities," along with coordinated planning among the City, the County and service providers. Almost three decades later, the City points out, both ideas are being built just east of I-25, one contract at a time.
If you would like to talk through how the Havana corridor and High Note Park are changing east Lone Tree, or how they fit with plans for your own home, Sherry and the team at The Beindorff Collection keep track of these projects closely and are always glad to help.
