June 2025 City Ditch Piping Project Update

Reach 1

Developers completed piping majority of Reach 1 following close coordination with City staff. The City is coordinating with a contractor to enclose the remaining portions of City Ditch in Reach 1. All work in Reach 1 is anticipated to be completed in 2025.

Reach 2

In 2024, the City requested a permanent easement from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) for a portion of the City Ditch Pipeline in Reach 2, which runs from Linhart Lake to Littleton Cemetery. The permanent easement would have allowed Englewood to install the pipeline in the City’s preferred alignment, minimizing impacts on the existing ditch and nearby residential areas.

BNSF unfortunately declined to grant the City a permanent easement. Reach 2 construction is on hold as the City works to redesign the piped sections that were planned to be on BNSF property outside of the City’s existing permanent easement, requiring a redesign of this reach. This adjustment will not substantially change the design for sections on the City of Littleton property, preserving parts of the existing City Ditch in this area. However, some sections of the new pipeline will be placed in the existing City Ditch channel within the City’s easement on private properties. The City will update adjacent residents and stakeholders and provide more information before construction starts, which is anticipated to begin for this reach towards the end of this year or in early 2026.

Reach 3 and 4

The City and its design engineer, Jacobs Engineering, revised the Reach 4 construction plans following a spring 2024 decision to realign the pipeline route through Belleview Park, utilizing sections of the existing City Ditch channel. The realignment addresses operation and construction challenges identified with the original proposed route. The Reach 3 plans did not substantially change over this past year.

The revised construction plans for Reach 4 are complete and the City recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to select a contractor for construction on Reaches 3 and 4. Construction is expected to begin this summer.

Englewood is contacting property owners near the ditch in Reaches 3 and 4 directly to provide updates and address any potential impacts to their property during the upcoming construction.

Additional information regarding construction and other project updates will be posted to this page as it becomes available.