The Denver Post reports that the Denver Regional Council of Governments board of directors voted Wednesday night to include the proposed Jefferson Parkway toll road in the group’s long-range transportation plan. The vote was 35 to 17.
Jefferson County, Broomfield and Arvada have been promoting the toll highway, which would run from the Interlocken commercial complex just off U.S. 36 to CO 93 north of Golden. Officials from the city of Golden and communities in Boulder County were among those opposing the effort to include the toll highway in DRCOG’s plan.
The Denver Post reports that backers and opponents squared off at a DRCOG hearing over the proposed Jefferson Parkway toll roa, calling it either a likely boondoggle that will do nothing to improve traffic safety and relieve congestion in northwest metro Denver or a vitally needed beltway link that will spur mobility, connectivity and commercial development in the area.
Broomfield, Arvada and Jefferson County set up the Jefferson County Public Highway Authority to lure a public-private partnership that would build a toll highway from Colorado 128 near the Interlocken commercial area to Colorado 93 near West 64th Avenue at the north edge of Golden.
The highway authority needs DRCOG’s board of directors to add the Jefferson Parkway to the council of governments’ regional transportation plan.
The Denver Business Journal reports that Wednesday’s public hearing on the last leg of Denver’s beltway is likely to draw a crowd. The issue is whether to include the 20-mile section between U.S. 36 through Golden and down to Interstate 70 in the region’s long-range transportation plan.
Getting a project included in the plan is a critical step among many that are needed to bring a proposal to reality.
But opponents are lining up against adding the initial phase of an estimated $203 million, 10-mile, private toll road dubbed the Jefferson Parkway. The first phase runs between between CO 93 and CO 128.
The Denver Regional Council of Governments will hold the public hearing at 7 p.m. in the Colorado History Museum Boettcher Auditorium, 1300 Broadway.
Go to the Denver Business Journal to see the entire article.
City of Golden Press Release
The city of Boulder, Boulder County, the City of Golden and the town of Superior have joined forces to oppose the current plan to build the Jefferson Parkway, warning taxpayers of the real cost the toll road would have on them.
Jefferson Parkway opponents have the opportunity to make their voices heard at a meeting with the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) on December 16. Public comment is encouraged as the DRCOG board decides whether or not to add the Jefferson Parkway to its regional transportation plan.
Fix93.org offers information about how to make a comment online or in person.
Jefferson Parkway backers are telling the public that private sector partners will pay for the proposed toll road. What they’re not revealing, however, is that their toll road would only work if taxpayers pay for close to $1 billion in additional road improvements around the toll road. These costs also would divert badly needed funds from other proposed regional or statewide transportation improvements.
The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority’s (JPPHA’s) application to be included in DRCOG’s regional transportation plan claims that it “will not require federal or state funding” and “requires no capital or operating funds from any public entity.”
However, plans to improve Highway 93 through Golden to C-470 are crucial for the success of the toll road. And the JPPHA has no intention of finding funding for these improvements. Its application states, “These improvements are assumed to be the responsibility of CDOT and/or area governments, and no funding or project commitment is available at this time.” That means an estimated cost of nearly $1 billion would fall on the backs of taxpayers.
Without these improvements, Jefferson Parkway traffic would be 60 to 80 percent below what the authority predicts, according to DRCOG traffic modeling. “For a toll road that’s supposed to be free to taxpayers, the Jefferson Parkway would be incredibly expensive,” said Golden Mayor Jacob Smith. “Given that the Jefferson Parkway will actually worsen traffic on almost all surrounding roads, it’s impossible to justify this expense.”
The city of Boulder, Boulder County, the city of Golden and the town of Superior have proposed making much-needed improvements to Highway 93 as an alternative to the Jefferson Parkway. Although it is a critical economic corridor, Highway 93 suffers from congestion and is dangerous, with its traffic fatality rate nearly double the state average for comparable roads.
The plan proposed by the four local governments would improve Highway 93’s safety and capacity, offering a boost to the clean energy research institutions in the area. For more information about the plan and to see maps of expected traffic increases as a result of the toll road, visit fix93.org.
Looking southwest over Indiana Street near the Rocky Flats site, the Jefferson Parkway toll road would go straight down the grassy space in the middle of the photo.
Officials from Golden and Boulder, the two cities connected by CO 93, told lawmakers on Wednesday that their $175 million plan to improve the hazardous stretch of road will improve safety and ease traffic congestion – results they say won’t be obtained from building the proposed Jefferson Parkway toll road.
They advocate intersection improvements including a grade separation at U.S. 6 and Heritage Road near the Jefferson County government center and U.S. 6 and 19th Street, plus shoulders and medians along CO 93. They claimed the Jefferson Parkway would worsen congestion in the northwest quadrant and do nothing to solve CO 93’s safety problems. Portions of the highway have accident rates twice the state average.
“Golden and Boulder feel they have to be proactive to come up with a transportation solution that works,” said John Putnam, an attorney representing Golden on transportation issues.
But after the meeting, the argument was joined by backers of the Jefferson Parkway, a $204 million proposed extension of the metro beltway that would run initially for about nine miles from Interlocken to CO 93 north of Golden.
“How could Jefferson Parkway add congestion to their streets if they say no one is going to use it?” said Kevin McCasky, a Jefferson County commissioner who is chair of the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority. “You can’t have it both ways. Is there a bunch of new traffic that’s just going to show up in neighborhoods?
Could $1.2 million from three local communities start a controversial highway project that $15 million from the Colorado Department of Transportation couldn’t? That`s the hope of elected officials in Broomfield, Arvada and Jefferson County, which each have given $400,000 to the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, reports the Broomfield Enterprise.
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