• Front page
• Receive letters on your RSS reader

Dick Sugg of Golden writes:

I tied to respond to the Nov 4th Speakout article by Dan Green, but was unable to do so on-line. Here is my response.
Writer Dan Green says “the facts are,” but he is obviously unaware of many facts.
1) The need for the beltway has never been supported by traffic analysis. The 2000 NW Quadrant Feasibility Study, conducted by CH2MHill, showed that the best way to improve mobility and reduce future congestion in Northern Jeffco would be to improve the N-S arterials, rather than complete the beltway. After the on-going NW Corridor EIS was under way, CDOT concocted a need for a beltway connection by changing the original Purpose and Need Statement from including improvements to local roads (such as SH-93, Wadsworth, McIntyre and Ward) to serving regional and inter-regional traffic (mostly commuters, not local residents) via the western beltway.
2) Only a small fraction of the southbound I-25 traffic is headed for the mountains via I-70, and that traffic is mostly on weekends, when commuter traffic is low. The “congested central core of Denver” is easily avoided by drivers using I-76 from I-25; drivers coming from Boulder and Longmont face little congestion on week ends by using SH-93 and US-6 to get to I-70 West.
3) The facts from the EIS are that building the western toll highway would reduce future traffic on Wadsworth from 65,000 vehicles per day only to 60,000.
The reason that Wadsworth traffic is heavy, and three times as much as projected for the toll highway, is that commercial development is so dense, especially just north of I-70. Why would Broomfield or north Arvada drivers opt to pay a toll going west to Golden and then back-track to the east on SH-58 and I-70 to get to their Wadsworth destinations?
4) The idea of completing the beltway down the Indiana-McIntyre corridor was addressed in the NW Quadrant Feasibility Study. Although the beltway route east of North Table Mountain would give greater relief to Wadsworth traffic than the route through Golden, neither beltway alignment would reduce future congestion in north Jeffco as well as improving the arterials. Even though they want the beltway, Arvada ruled out the eastern alignment absolutely.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Message to Golden: The parkway's coming, Baby! If y'all continue this obstructionist nonsense, the U.S. Congress is going to have to give you a spanking, like they did with the TV towers.

You only get to be insolent so often before it becomes a cry-wolf thing.

just as long as its not in your back yard you dont care one bit. now how do you feel driving down 6th ave or I70 going through all those neighbor hoods and making noise and polluting their lives?
and what about all the folks going up to Black hawk that have to pass through your town. and would you please do something about the smell up there from coors.

POST A COMMENT

• Smoking ban on CU campus
• Response to Mike Rosen
• Funding bill for Iraq
• Counting Denver ballots
• Mayor stole A thru I
• Beltway proposal
• Gov. Ritter’s executive order
• New energy bill