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The Golden Transcript Editorial by Gwyn Green - Colorado State Representative Until recently, it looked like the Colorado Department of Transportation might consider a road project through Golden that made some transportation sense. It would make both state Highway 93 and Indiana-McIntyre four lanes. Of course, it would also have had gargantuan shoulders, which are totally unacceptable, and an unnecessary toll road along state Highway 128. But CDOT and Golden were working towards a solution, with Golden asking for the Muller Plan, which I support. But now a Portuguese company, Brisa Auto-Estradas, has bailed out the failed Northwest Parkway and put another $60 million on the table to extend the toll road to state Highway 93 and 64th Avenue. There's $43 million more if the toll road is extended to I-70. CDOT's toll road option calls for 12 paved lanes through Golden. You read that correctly: 12 paved lanes. There would be two paved lanes for shoulders on each side, two paved lanes for a median, and six lanes of traffic for a total width of 162 feet. That's half the length of a football field. One option CDOT is exploring would elevate half of this 12-lane monstrosity over Golden, just as Interstate 25 is over Trinidad. You know, where you can look down and see the rooftops of buildings as you drive over them. Of course, this will destroy Golden. Not to mention the wildlife. Not to mention the T-Rex track at Fossil Trace — one of only two in the world. But the people who will pay the most are the citizens of Colorado. And will we pay! First, we will pay in taxes. You see, toll revenues are not enough to pay for the toll road. There are only 25,000 cars on Highway 93, and just a modest increase is estimated until 2030. Such little traffic cannot pay for a toll road which would cost $2 billion. Studies by CDOT estimated the toll revenue would be so minor that the Colorado Tolling Enterprise refused to authorize building a toll road to complete the beltway. So the taxpayers will be paying most of the costs of building and maintaining this monstrosity, all the while subsidizing a foreign company. The Denver Business Daily reported Aug. 29 that the $2 toll on the Northwest Parkway would increase $1 through 2009, then by the greatest of the inflation rate, 2 percent; or the rate of increase in per-capita gross domestic product. Sock it to 'em, sock it to 'em, the poor taxpayer not only subsidizes this foreign company but also pays them for the privilege. So I thought, why in the world would anyone want to build such a thing? Who could be so crass as to harm the taxpayer this way — not to mention a small town of 17,700 men, women and children? The Northwest Parkway's board is composed of representatives from Broomfield, Arvada and Jefferson County. How could they approve something so inherently unsound financially, so destructive to the environment and Open Space, so damaging to the Mountain Backdrop, and which will dismantle a thriving small town? Hmm. Could it be … money? Yes. I have heard the mantra of economic development over and over at the planning meetings for this beltway. Jefferson County and Arvada want economic development. When companies move into a community and bring jobs and increase city or county revenues and improve the quality of life for a community — as one can easily see in Belmar or in downtown Golden — that's economic development. When companies move into a community and destroy that community, and its leaders insist upon it, that's greed. My friends, that's what I see here. The leaders proposing such a destructive solution for Colorado are more interested in money than they are in the well being of our citizens. They are more interested in money than they are in the environment or Open Space or our economic wellbeing or in communities. They are the barbarians at the door. As the poet Ferlinghetti wrote: "I have noted the close identification of the United States and the Promised Land Where every coin is marked In God We Trust But the dollar bills do not have it Being gods unto themselves." State Rep. Gwyn Green can be reached at gwyngreen@yahoo.com or 303-866-2951. |
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The following organizations endorse CINQ’s position: Colorado Environmental Coalition, 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. |