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Storm and water upgrades reach completion in downtown revitalization project
LOVELAND, Colo. – May 15, 2026 – The City of Loveland is proud to announce the completion of important stormwater and waterline underground improvements for the Heart Improvement Plan’s (HIP Streets) 4th Street Revitalization Project, rounding out a significant milestone for the corridor’s underground utilities. Since breaking ground in February 2025, the project has involved extensive construction under the streets between Washington and Garfield avenues to replace aging infrastructure that has outlived its lifespan, in some cases dating to the late-1800s. Completed ahead of schedule and under budget, the work reflects the City’s continued commitment to invest in a stronger, more resilient community.
What’s underground?
The new water pipes are larger, more durable and designed to improve the capacity and quality of our drinking water. The new stormwater pipes and drainage system are built to improve capacity and the way rain and snowmelt runoff is collected and channeled, helping to prevent and reduce flooding, erosion and pollution. New fire service lines and fire hydrants were added—cost-effective, forward-thinking additions that leveraged the already dug-up streets in what would otherwise have been costly modifications. Water quality manholes added at Jefferson and 4th involved the deepest excavations of the project at 16 feet, requiring a crane to place them beneath the street. New components include:
- 4,150 feet of waterlines
- 3,080 feet of stormwater pipes
- 16 fire service lines
- 11 fire hydrants
- 19 storm manholes
- 21 storm inlets
“It required a lot of sacrifice and selflessness from our community members and business owners for their patience and willingness to work with us while we made these improvements,” Cecil said. “And our consultants and contractors worked hard as stewards to juggle priorities and meet the needs of multiple departments within the City.”
A notable difference on 4th is that water now drains to the middle of the street, not the curbs, where gutters carry water to underground inlets. Stormwater Division Manager Chris Carlson said you won’t find this unique street design in most other communities.
“The center-drain design is an efficient approach over traditional street gutter systems that will make 4th Street more visually-pleasing and pedestrian-friendly and improve visitor experiences for public events, festivals and concerts,” Carlson said.
Another central stormwater feature is an underground vault with a quality treatment device installed that removes pollutants and cleans water before it discharges into the Big Thompson River. It not only traps waste like soda cans, trash, cigarette butts and other debris, but also filters sediment and the pollutants that bind to it, like nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals.
Blueprints for the next century
According to Cecil, a big part of the challenges encountered by crews was due to a lack of records about the underground infrastructure.
“We want to leave our successors in better shape,” Cecil said. “Accurate record keeping is integral to our work to ensure that someone 100 years from now can look at our blueprints and know exactly what they’re seeing.”
Despite the lack of good documentation, teamwork prevailed. Crews learned to expect the unexpected. Every situation was technically different, requiring intense collaboration and troubleshooting. Water projects used subsurface investigations like potholing to help inform strategy and design. An ace in the pocket for stormwater crews was a miniature robotic truck on four wheels with a high-definition, 360° camera mounted on top, which they navigated down pipes and manholes to find cracks, obstructions and other issues. The camera’s recorded data gave the exact location and nature of a problem, which teams used to prioritize.
Years in the making
Tanner Randell, former manager of City of Loveland Utility’s Water Division, is credited with being a catalyst for HIP Streets. He had identified the downtown waterline as a key vulnerability to Loveland’s drinking water system and knew there was too much at stake not to do it. He also recognized that failing to address the issues would limit downtown’s future growth. With Utilities committed to do the work, it made good economic sense for other major upgrades to be addressed at the same time, a strategy that would also reduce future disruptions for the public.
Only by coming together across departments could a project of this scale be achieved, a monumental testament to the multiple stakeholders who contributed time, energy and money to the effort—from City Council and the Loveland Downtown Development Authority to City departments and the Loveland community.
How to stay in the loop
To stay informed throughout construction, stakeholders can sign up for the Heart Improvement Plan project newsletter at go.lovgov.org/SubscribetoHIP. For questions or to contact the project team, call the Public Works Department at 970-962-2524 or email HIPStreets@CityofLoveland.org. Additional project details including construction phasing maps, images and other project updates can be found at lovgov.org/HIPStreets.