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Mile High News (Arvada, Golden, Lakwood, and Wheat Ridge)
by State Representative Gwyn Green Multiple studies have been conducted to look at how to get regional traffic effectively through areas of the metro’s northwest quadrant, only to have each verify that 1) the congestion is located in the eastern part of the quadrant and 2) traffic and congestion is from internal traffic within cities, rather than traffic moving regionally through the northwest quadrant. The subject of a metro area beltway completion was first broached in 1989, and defeated by 80 percent of the voters. Shortly afterwards, Jefferson County and cities in the northwest quadrant studied congestion under the Jefferson County Wide Transportation Plan. Jefferson County and the cities of Arvada, Westminster, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Golden then agreed to a more comprehensive study, conducted by CH2MHill. This study was to look at projected traffic up to the year 2015 and make recommendations on how best to handle congestion. But enough congestion for a beltway could not be found by 2015, so they extended the timeline to the year 2020. Their final report, dated September 2000, recommended arterial solutions, rather than a freeway, to solve congestion – which was noted to be to the east of SH-93 where Jefferson County and Arvada wished a freeway. Shucks. That was the third time proponents had tried to get a beltway and failed. So CH2MHill came out with another report entitled Final Report, this one dated January 2001. It still recommended arterial solutions, but included the provision that rights of way could be retained in the event that a freeway was needed to relieve traffic congestion some time in the future. The right of way was recommended along Indiana and along SH-93. And for the third time, the developers were denied their beltway. The next step was for Jefferson County and Arvada to form a non-profit which looked into the possibility of a toll road along SH-93. Doggone it, wouldn’t you know, tolling did not look financially feasible. But Governor Owens came to the rescue, when he announced CDOT would conduct an Environmental Impact Study for the Northwest Corridor. From that, two distinct groups were formed: the Corridor Consensus Committee, which consisted of local elected officials and a representative each from a business and an environment group; and the Technical Services Committee, composed of traffic engineers from these municipalities and a business and environmental representative. These groups’ representatives repeatedly stated they were not interested in a beltway, but wanted congestion relief. Their input was ignored. In fact, the cities of Louisville, Superior and Boulder along with Boulder County have all entered written objections to the manner in which the EIS was conducted and charge that these meetings were “skewed” towards a pre-ordained conclusion. This has also been Golden’s contention and it is certainly borne out by my observations at the CCC and TSC meetings. CDOT itself has stated that “we are looking for system improvements rather than traffic reductions” for the Northwest Corridor EIS study. Is it a vanity beltway? Or is it just an economic pipe dream for the quadrant with the lowest projected growth in the metro area, much of which is Open Space? If this beltway is built, say goodbye to common sense and hello to greed from developers. And that hole in your pocketbook will just get larger. State Representative Gwyn Green represents Golden and Lakewood in House District 23. |
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The following organizations endorse CINQ’s position: Colorado Environmental Coalition, Plan Jeffco, Friends of the Foothills, 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. |