Just west of the Yale and Holly signal, the trail now drops into a concrete box beneath East Yale Avenue. Retaining walls line the approach on both sides, and riders come out the far end without ever waiting for a gap in traffic. For most of the past year, people on that stretch followed a fenced detour. Since the evening of Friday, October 9, they've had the tunnel.

It's a big upgrade, and it covers one crossing. According to the High Line Canal Conservancy's Spring 2025 progress report, the canal crosses Yale Avenue four times, more than any other road along its route. This year changed three of them in two different ways. The road above the new tunnel has another full construction season ahead. If you walk or ride between Eisenhower Park and Bible Park, the honest summary is that Yale got better. It isn't finished.

Mile 39, the crossing that went under

The Conservancy places the new underpass at Mile 39. That's in the middle of Segment 15, the 3.4-mile stretch from Mamie D. Eisenhower Park at 4300 E. Dartmouth Avenue to James A. Bible Park at 6802 E. Yale Avenue. The city's project page says the trail used to cross Yale just west of the Holly intersection "without a safe connection."

The tunnel was a long time coming. Denver and Arapahoe County first studied the intersection in 2014. Another study followed in 2021, and full design work started in mid-2022. In 2018, Denverite reported that $3.7 million in bond money would pay for a trail underpass beneath Yale. By the time it was built, the underpass alone cost $17.3 million. The full Yale package is budgeted at $23.9 million, with the other $6.6 million set aside for road improvements on Yale. Funding came from the Elevate Denver Bond program, Arapahoe County and the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

Arapahoe County's announcement put construction at 14 months. It also scheduled a community walk and bike ride for 4 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, starting at the trail crossing near South Holly Street and East Iliff Avenue and ending at the new underpass for a ribbon cutting. The city's flyer listed remarks from Denver City Council President Diana Romero Campbell. That route from Iliff down to Yale is a short, easy way to try the tunnel for yourself.

One detail matters if you reach the trail from the street. Under the city's design, people walking along Yale or Holly still get onto the trail from the sidewalk on the north and south sides of Yale. That sidewalk connector runs next to the underpass and meets the main trail about 500 feet north and 500 feet south of it. If you start on the street, you walk that stretch first and then join the trail for the approach into the tunnel.

Past Bible Park, two crossings stayed at street level and got lights

Head east past Bible Park and you're in Segment 16, which runs 3.6 miles to South Yosemite Street near East Amherst Drive. This is where the Conservancy's count of four comes from. The report calls them the "second and third crossings of Yale Ave by Bible Park," and they were never meant to get a tunnel. The plan was crosswalk upgrades and blinking pedestrian beacons.

Denver's 2026 Pedestrian Crossing Construction page now lists the work as built: curb extensions and push-button flashing lights, known as RRFBs, at the trail crossings of Yale just east of Monaco Street Parkway and just west of South Quebec Street. The city's flyer for the project calls Yale "a busy street and a popular crossing location" because of the trail and Bible Park. It says the new striping and white safety posts are meant to shorten the distance across and get more drivers to yield.

That leaves two different kinds of crossing at three spots on one road, a few miles apart:

The Conservancy's own guidebook hasn't caught up yet. The Segment 16 page, last updated June 29, still tells users they will cross Yale twice and to "be careful at the unprotected crossings." The same paragraph has advice that still holds. Going north from Bible Park, watch for the spot where the canal and trail cross Yale, and bear right to stay on the High Line Canal. Push the button, wait for the lights and make eye contact with drivers. It's still a street crossing.

The intersection above the tunnel has one more year of work

The underpass is the first of two phases. Denver's project page says the city will repave a section of Yale Avenue between Hudson Street and Holly Street, with that roadway work set to follow the underpass starting in late October 2026. If you drive Yale this month, check that page for current lane closures before you head out.

After that comes Arapahoe County's turn. The county's project page schedules Phase 2 from spring 2027 through fall 2027. It's a rebuild of the Yale and Holly intersection itself:

• Modern metal-pole signals in place of the old traffic light hanging from wires
• Eight-foot concrete sidewalks along Yale from Holly Street east to Locust Street, replacing the narrow ones there now
• Upgraded crosswalks at the intersection so neighbors can reach the new underpass more safely
• An extended westbound lane and a second eastbound lane
• Overhead power lines buried around the intersection and for 400 feet to the east

For trail users, this second phase matters more than it looks. The tunnel solved the problem for people who stay on the canal. The wider sidewalks and new crosswalks fix the route for people walking in from the streets around Holly, through the same at-grade connectors described above. Until the county's crews finish next fall, the trail is in better shape than the sidewalks that lead to it.

Denver has done this once already, farther west

There's a local precedent for where this is heading. Near Colorado Boulevard and Hampden Avenue, the trail used to leave people at what the city called "a busy intersection that was intimidating to cross on foot or on a bike." Denver built two underpasses there to send the trail under both roads, plus a new 10-foot-wide multiuse path along the north side of Hampden between them. That project also brought "We Are Future Strata" by Denver artist Michael Buckley: three 50,000-pound granite boulders painted with bright stripes that look like rock layers.

Taken together, the two projects mean that a long westbound ride from Bible Park toward Colorado Boulevard now goes under three major roads: Yale, Hampden and Colorado. Yale is also where the trail meets the same road over and over. The Bible Park crossings got signals and curb work instead of tunnels, and those improvements are what's in place there today.

Before a November outing on this stretch

A few practical notes for this time of year:

• Restrooms are seasonal. The Segment 15 guide lists a seasonal portable restroom at the Eisenhower Recreation Center parking lot, and seasonal and portable restrooms at Bible Park. Denver Parks & Recreation says park restrooms open in mid-April and may close when temperatures fall below freezing.
• Pick your surface. The Conservancy notes that Segment 15 is the first section of the trail with a hard surface, and much of it has a parallel soft-surface path. Bible Park has a dirt path option.
• Watch for tree work. The Conservancy's trail notices list ongoing tree-canopy care along the whole corridor and say temporary closures may be needed. The Conservancy's trail notices page is the place to check before a longer ride.
• No horses in Denver. The Conservancy's guide notes that horses are not allowed on the trail in Denver.
• Lunch near Iliff. If you start at the Holly and Iliff crossing, Esters Virginia Village at 1950 S. Holly St. lists daily hours on its location page: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends, with dine-in and carryout.

Kerri Dowling keeps track of southeast Denver projects like this one: what's done, what's still scheduled, and which corners will see work next. If you're wondering how the Yale and Holly rebuild could affect a home near the trail, whether you own one now or are thinking about it, Dowling Group can walk you through it block by block. Let Kerri be your guide.