"No work will occur during First Friday Art Walks." That line comes from Denver Water's project page for the Santa Fe Drive pipe replacement. It's easy to miss, and it says a lot about this fall in Baker. Santa Fe Drive is torn up block by block, and a stadium site at the south end of the neighborhood broke ground last week. The evenings that make up Baker's October and November still fall almost entirely outside the hours when crews are working.
So the closures matter less this season than the clock does. You can still get where you're going if you plan around the hour.
Santa Fe's Trench Keeps Office Hours
Denver Water is replacing more than 2,800 linear feet of aging water mains under Santa Fe Drive, from West 7th to West 12th avenues. Crews started at West 7th and are moving north one or two blocks at a time. They work roughly 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus some weekend shifts that usually run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to the October 2 update, this week's work is between West 9th and West 10th avenues. Santa Fe Drive is fully closed on that block from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. Crews patch the trench with asphalt each night before the road reopens. If the schedule holds, work on the West 10th to West 11th block should start late next week.
During work hours, through traffic follows a signed loop:
- Head east on West 6th Avenue to Speer Boulevard.
- Go north on Speer to West 13th Avenue.
- Turn west on West 13th and come back to Santa Fe Drive.
Businesses inside the work zone stay open. Local access remains available from the side streets, and Denver Water asks visitors to follow the posted signs. If you're heading to a gallery or shop near the closed block, use the cross streets and skip the detour loop.
The schedule shifts every week, so the Denver Water page is the one to bookmark. The finish date isn't firm yet. Denver Water's own materials point to late 2026, and the city's timeline lists utility work as complete in early 2027. The pipe work is the first step of Denver's larger Santa Fe Streetscape project. That project covers 6th to 13th avenues and adds wider sidewalks, safer crossings and landscaping, with full completion expected at the end of 2028.
The Fall Calendar Lands After Quitting Time
Compare the work hours with Baker's fall events and almost nothing overlaps. Most of the big events fall on Saturday evenings. The weekday closures haven't started yet at that hour, and weekend crews usually wrap up around 5 p.m.
| Event | When | Where | Overlap with Santa Fe work hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAC Día de los Muertos exhibition | Oct. 2 to Nov. 15 | 834 Santa Fe Drive | Inside the pipe corridor; side-street access maintained |
| South Broadway Halloween Parade | Sat., Oct. 17, 6 to 9 p.m. | Broadway | Starts after typical weekend work ends |
| Broadway Halloween Bar Crawl | Sat., Oct. 24, 6 to 10 p.m. | Broadway corridor | Starts after typical weekend work ends |
| First Friday Art Walk | Fri., Nov. 6, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. | Santa Fe, 13th Ave. to Alameda | Denver Water pauses work |
The First Friday row is where the schedule actually bends. The art walk runs 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. That would overlap a normal weekday shift, which goes until 9 p.m. Denver Water has said it won't work during the walks. The Art District on Santa Fe holds First Fridays year-round across the stretch from 13th Avenue to Alameda Avenue, and it tells visitors to expect heavy traffic. Those crowds were already part of the night before the trench showed up.
CHAC's Día de los Muertos exhibition at 834 Santa Fe Drive sits right in the pipe replacement zone, which runs from 7th to 12th avenues. The show opened October 2 and runs through November 15. Coming by on a weekday afternoon means using the side streets. Evenings and First Friday are easier.
Halloween on Broadway
The South Broadway Halloween Parade is on Saturday, October 17, from 6 to 9 p.m. The organizers say the floats aren't advertising. Neighbors, artists and families build them. Float entries have already sold out this year. The 2026 route and street closures haven't been published yet. Check the organizers' page or their @broadwayhalloween Instagram before deciding where to stand or park.
A week later, on October 24, the second annual Broadway Halloween Bar Crawl runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Organizers say about 500 people joined last year's first crawl across 28 bars and venues, and all proceeds go to the parade. So the crawl helps pay for the parade, which may be why the two dates sit a week apart.
Baker PorchFest already filled the neighborhood with free porch concerts from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 3. It went ahead during the construction season too.
Broadway Is the Easier Side This Season
With Santa Fe closed in sections, Broadway is the easier way through Baker, and the city has finished its own project there. Denver says road and bikeway construction for Denver Moves: Broadway is substantially complete. The two-way protected bike lane connects the Cherry Creek Trail to Center Avenue and RTD's Broadway station. On parade night, the bikeway lets you reach Broadway without looking for a parking space.
The restaurant lineup along the strip has also changed this year:
- Mother Other, 675 S. Broadway, Suite 300, was scheduled to open June 27 as a vegan dinner restaurant with cocktails, according to the Denver Post.
- 421 S. Broadway housed Imperial Chinese from 1985 until it closed earlier this year. Westword reported October 2 that the space is now registered to Sunny Eats LLC. That company has filed for a liquor and food license under the trade name Oriente. Whether Oriente will be the restaurant's name hasn't been confirmed.
- The Mulligan Room, 248 S. Broadway, is a planned golf simulator bar with three simulator bays and a full bar. The Denver Business Journal covered it in August. As of early October, its website still says "Find us soon" and asks visitors to sign up for opening updates.
The Stadium Dig Runs on a Different Clock
The Santa Fe trench moves a block or two at a time. At the south end of Baker, the timeline is measured in years. Construction on Denver Summit FC's permanent stadium officially started at Santa Fe Yards on Thursday, October 1. Team owner Rob Cohen and Mayor Mike Johnston were at the groundbreaking. Denverite reports the stadium will cost an expected $200 million and will be only the second in the country built specifically for women's sports. Cohen's ownership group is paying for the building. The city bought the land and is putting up to $70 million toward surrounding infrastructure.
The opening date isn't settled. Denverite's groundbreaking coverage says the stadium is set to open in 2028. Earlier, the Denver Business Journal reported it might not be finished until 2029. For now, both dates are possible.
The connection to transit will come later. In August, Denver City Council approved $5.3 million for a pedestrian bridge over the rail corridor between RTD's I-25 & Broadway station and the stadium site. The total cost is estimated at $20 million to $23 million, and the city expects to finish the bridge in 2029 or 2030. Councilmember Flor Alvidrez said the bridge was planned long before the stadium. She described it as a link between the Westside and the South Platte River Trail, parks, housing and businesses.
The stadium work closest to daily life this fall is the city's construction of Vanderbilt Park East and the relocation of utilities around the site. Both are on the fall schedule. No street-by-street closure plan for that work had been published as of early October. If you use the trail, there's another detour north of Baker. Since June 15, the South Platte River Trail between 9th and 13th avenues has been routed onto Alcott Street and the West 13th Avenue bike lanes. Trail access there is expected back in 2027.
That's three timelines for one neighborhood. The trench changes week to week, the streetscape finishes at the end of 2028, and the stadium and bridge stretch into 2029 or 2030. The Halloween parade, the bar crawl and the November 6 First Friday all start after the trench's usual weekday and weekend hours end.
Questions about how the Santa Fe Streetscape or the Summit FC stadium might affect a home you own in Baker are easier to answer with someone who follows the projects week to week. The team at Mile High Lifestyles keeps track of these timelines and is happy to talk through what they mean for your block. Start Your Property Search whenever you're ready, or just reach out with a question about the construction.
