FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NW Corridor Toll White Paper (PDF)
NW Corridor Toll White Paper Appendix (PDF)

For more information, contact:
Communications Manager/PIO
Sabrina D’Agosta
Office: 303-384-8132
Cell: 303-437-6671
sdagosta@cityofgolden.net

Analysis shows proposed Jefferson County toll road is wrong answer
2002 countywide plan offers more congestion relief, is more cost effective

Golden, Colo. — May 23, 2007 — A proposed Jefferson County toll road would offer far less congestion relief and is less cost effective than a package of transportation improvements agreed to in 2002 by all the impacted communities, according to a new comprehensive analysis of traffic data.

The 65-page white paper was commissioned by the City of Golden and conducted by CRA International, a Boston-based consulting firm. The study relied on traffic data and modeling methodology from the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG).

“The analysis shows definitively that the Jefferson County toll road the Colorado Department of Transportation pushed so hard for under the previous administration simply doesn’t make sense from either a financial or transportation perspective,” said Golden City Manager Mike Bestor. “We hope that the current administration uses this data to reassess this ill-conceived proposal.”

“The argument that a toll road will be easier to fund and less of a burden on taxpayers is clearly undercut by this research. The data shows that the toll road simply isn’t the best transportation solution,” Bestor added. “The failure of toll roads nationally to meet their overly optimistic traffic and revenue projections should serve as a warning that these proposals must be heavily scrutinized at the front end. It’s now clear that the new toll road proposed for Jefferson County will never pay for itself.”

The data was analyzed by Daniel Brand, vice president of CRA International. Brand is a well-known transportation expert with more than 35 years of research and consulting experience in urban and intercity transportation policy and investment analysis. Before joining CRA in 1977, Brand was undersecretary of transportation for Massachusetts and an associate professor at Harvard University.

The white paper came to the following conclusions:

• “The forecast traffic volumes on the toll road are very small.” This lack of volume “deserves considerable attention because it shows that people avoid paying tolls, and that there is little traffic through the corridor that will benefit from the toll road in the first place.” (page 6)
• The toll road would not increase traffic or revenue on the Northwest Parkway. “This means the toll road does not serve a ‘regional need’ to close the ‘gap’ in the circumferential highway around Denver.” (page 6)
• Jefferson County transportation improvements proposed in the 2002 Countywide Transportation Plan would perform “far better than the toll road…with twice the benefits in most cases.” (page 8) The Countywide Transportation Plan was created by all the local governments within Jefferson County and incorporated all proposed municipal, county and state improvements. It did not propose a toll road.
• The toll road would cost between two and six times as much as the proposed Countywide Transportation Plan for each daily minute of congested travel time saved. (page 12)
• “The toll revenues from the toll road are essentially worthless as a means of paying for the toll road.” (page 14)
• “Since toll revenues are weak in all cases, building a toll road in the Northwest Corridor will produce serious pressure to not build any competing no-tolled capacity to encourage drivers to pay tolls.” (page 14)

NW Corridor Toll White Paper (PDF)
NW Corridor Toll White Paper Appendix (PDF)

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