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.

Go to the Denver Post to see the entire article.

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.

Go to the Denver Post to see the entire article.

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.

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.

The beltway opponents were joined by Boulder County in making a presentation on currently unfunded CO 93 improvements to the Capitol to the Transportation Legislation Review Committee, an interim House-Senate committee that considers proposals for transportation-related bills.

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 say the first phases would cost a combined $55 million. They are looking for funding from the federal, state and local level including the Great Outdoors Colorado fund to improve trails in the corridor.

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.

The presentation was made by Golden Mayor Jacob Smith, Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum and Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor.

“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.

“This toll road concept isn’t a transportation solution. It’s going to make things worse. A few spots will get better but more spots are negatively affected. And it leaves 93 unsolved.”

You can view a copy of their presentation here.

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?

“If Golden says it won’t work, what are they afraid of?”

The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, formed in 2008 by Arvada, Broomfield and Jefferson County, is pursuing private investors to make proposals to build the initial stretch of tollway from CO 128 near the Jefferson County Airport to CO 93.

It is currently working to get the toll road added to the metro area’s 2035 Regional Transportation Plan maintained by the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

You can read the application for that designation here.

Parkway proponents say they encourage improvements on CO 93 as well, even thought hat’s not part of their project.

“To the extent they can get funding to fix their road through Golden, we’ll be there to help them, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what this is all about,” said Preston Gibson, president of the Jefferson Economic Council.

“We’d love to help them get money to fix it. But there isn’t any money. I don’t know exactly how they’ll come up with this additional money.”

But Gibson said the parkway’s study shows an impact opposite of what Golden and Boulder claim.

“It only makes sense that if you provide an additional route for people to use, it will lessen traffic on Indiana and other regional roads. “They just need to paint the worst picture possible for their residents.”

Opponents say the toll road is predicated on keeping conditions congested and slow on the nearby arterial streets, particularly Indiana Street north of 96th Avenue. They said the parkway supporters want to “cripple” traffic on Indiana by lowering the speed limit to 30. It is currently 55 on the open rural highway segment north to CO 128.

McCasky said the parkway isn’t proposing the lower speed limit, but Putnam pointed out that the parkway application to DRCOG shows it made a request to model traffic forecasts for the 2035 “build” alternative based on reducing the speed limit on Indiana to 30 between CO 128 and 96th Avenue.

McCasky said future development will dictate lower speed limits through “traffic calming” devices such as roundabouts, and he noted Golden itself wants to lower the speed limit on U.S. 6 from 55 to 45 and uses traffic calming devices around the city.

Putnam said Golden wants to lower the speed on U.S. 6 to reduce noise.

“We call Indiana traffic crippling because dropping a rural road like that from 55 to 30 certainly doesn’t fall into the notion of traffic calming,” Putnam said. “This stretch of Indiana Street is totally rural.”

The DRCOG board is on track to decide on the parkway proposal at its Jan. 20 meeting.

The authority`s aim is to find private companies to design, finance, build, maintain and operate a privately-owned toll road that would one day connect the Northwest Parkway in Broomfield to Interstate 70 near Golden.

Read the full story in the Broomfield Enterprise.