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Rocky Mountain News Foes of stalled NW Beltway unready to declare victory By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News Is the Northwest Beltway dead? Golden City Manager Mike Bestor - whose city has fought the final link to a proposed metro- wide beltway for years - isn't so sure. True, the Colorado Department of Transportation has pulled the plug on any further study of a 20-mile highway that would connect the Northwest Parkway near Colorado 128 to Colorado 93 near 58th Avenue. Bestor ticked off some of the previous times that opponents of the project thought it was dead, such as when voters rejected a W-470 project by a 4-1 ratio in 1989, and when an earlier feasibility study rejected the proposal. On Monday, CDOT officials announced they have decided not to complete the Northwest Corridor environmental impact study, a requirement for federal funding. CDOT officials cited declining funding and a lack of consensus among the communities involved. The decision comes after the state spent $13.7 million to study more than 70 alternative routes for the highway. Instead, CDOT will make its data available to any private or public entity that wants to pursue the project without federal funding. While happy with CDOT's decision, Bestor was unwilling to declare victory Tuesday. "The idea of the beltway is like Jason," he said, comparing the multilane highway to the recurring character of the hockey- masked killer in the Halloween movies. "It keeps coming back from the dead. We've seen the end of this project so many times." Nor were supporters of the beltway willing to give up. "What this means is that ultimately the only way the beltway is going to be completed is if local government can do it," said Bob Frie, mayor of Arvada and a supporter of the project. "We're going to try." Frie said CDOT officials informally let supporters know four months ago that it was unlikely that more state funds would be available for the project. That led Jefferson County and the cities of Arvada and Broomfield to form a public highway authority to test the feasibility of public/private financing of the project. Broomfield Mayor Pat Quinn noted that there are no state or federal funds available for such road projects and that public/private partnership are a more viable option. |
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The following organizations endorse CINQ’s position: Colorado Environmental Coalition, Jeffco League of Women Voters, Plan Jeffco, Friends of the Foothills, former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, Canyon Area Residents for the Environment (CARE), Blue Mountain Land & Homeowners Association, Apple Meadows Homeowners Association, Village at Mountain Ridge Homeowners Association, Meadow Run Homeowners Association, and Harmony Village Community Association. |