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COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood joined Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper Monday to announce more than $1.7 million in new funding for the Rocky Mountain Greenway.

They refer to it as America’s next great urban park.

The grant will help pay to build seven miles of trails—biking and walking—to help complete the Rocky Mountain Greenway Project.

Completion of the Rocky Mountain Greenway, first proposed by Salazar and Hickenlooper in May, 2011, will result in a comprehensive trail system connecting three national wildlife refuges — Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Two Ponds, and Rocky Flats — to Rocky Mountain National Park and to hundreds of miles of trails in the Denver metropolitan area.

“We know the federal program was patterned after Great Outdoors Colorado, but the federal project will also bring lots of jobs to the state as well,” said LaHood.

“The Rocky Mountain Greenway will improve access and connections to the great outdoors for all Coloradans,” said Governor Hickenlooper.

From the Governor to Salazar, everyone was pumped about making sure that there is a way from the metro area to the Rockies and this plan will go a long way in making it happen.