I-70 Expansion: Point and Counterpoint

Point

Our Legacy and Promise for I-70: Building Community

By Brad Buchanan

The redesign of Interstate 70 in Denver is more than a highway project. It is a community-rebuilding project and a catalyst for change. Where today there are fragmented communities, split by a highway, divided by rivers and rail, we have the opportunity to transform these obstacles into links, bridges, places, paths, and connections that can improve the quality of life for the families in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea.

Our legacy is bold. From the days of the first wagon trains, to the entrepreneurs who raced to connect our city to the First Transcontinental Railroad via the Denver Pacific, to the engineers who built the elevated highways of the 1960s, Coloradans have envisioned innovative transportation possibilities and pursued them relentlessly.

The national love affair with the car in the early 1900s led to the promise of the suburbs and the romance of the highway. The highways of the 1960s, like I-70, cut through neighborhoods and commercial districts and disconnected them — ironically — in the name of connectivity. With I-70 came industrial interests that created jobs and grew our economy, but took a toll on the adjacent neighborhoods. Today those communities remain strong, proud and vital, but suffer tremendously from the effects of the highway.

Meanwhile, I-70 — specifically the elevated structure between I-25 and Colorado Boulevard — is tired, requires significant annual expenditures to keep it safe, and must be replaced.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has considered many options for I-70, as have Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s administration and the Denver City Council. Today, CDOT, the administration and City Council support moving forward on a widened, partially covered and lowered highway solution in its current location. CDOT’s engineers developed a design for the highway by working with the local residents and businesses most impacted by the project, and will continue to do so as they refine the design.

Some have suggested that we should simply remove the highway from its current location and move all of I-70 traffic to a route that would follow I-270 and I-76 to the north around Denver. And yes, it’s an easy elevator pitch to say, “Wouldn’t it be great if I-70 would just go away?” But that’s only half of the discussion.

In short, the devil is in the details.

The majority of traffic on I-70 as it moves through Denver is on its way to Denver — not the mountains or the Eastern Plains. Further, most traffic at the mousetrap turns north or south on I-25. Moving the highway would mean that enormous amounts of traffic would have to move along a number of new “Colorado-Boulevard-like” streets in both the east-west and north-south directions between the current I-70 location and what is I-270/I-76 today.

Creating the necessary number of boulevards would be almost physically impossible given the many river ways and rail lines to be crossed, would cost twice as much as the other alternatives CDOT has considered, and would still leave the neighborhoods fragmented. And to say that it’s best for Denver to move the highway elsewhere disregards the effects on its new location. What would the impacts be to Commerce City and Adams County?

Many cities (Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Columbus and Seattle to name a few) have partnered with their state highway departments to create highway covers that are helping reunite neighbors, revitalize areas, and provide new open space.

The City of Denver supports creating highway covers over the lowered section of highway topped with open space, and with the potential for creating new town centers. Our goal is to re-knit these historically underserved neighborhoods and allow them to thrive, together with a strong business community. And while it’s easy to focus on the highway, just as critical are the many other small and not-so-small improvements the area’s residents so desperately need. Given the scope and scale of these projects, the city is exploring a range of public and private funding options.

There are very real possibilities to turn back the clock for our city, and reconnect the fabric of the communities living alongside the highway. But to do so we need to think beyond a highway project, and understand that we are undertaking a creative, community rebuilding project. Our transportation goals have evolved since Denver’s earliest days to include respect, community, culture and justice. We need to see the redesign of I-70 not as a highway project, but a catalyst for true change.

Brad Buchanan is executive director of the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development. To learn more about the I-70 project, visit www.DenverGov.org/NDCC.

Counterpoint

Interstate 70 Expansion:
A $1.8 Billion Boondoggle

By Dennis Gallagher

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is proposing to double the width of I-70 through north-central Denver by going from the current six lanes to 10. This proposal not only has serious consequences for the people of Denver and Colorado but is particularly detrimental to the people of the neighborhoods near the freeway: Globville, Elyria and Swansea.

Moreover it is unnecessary, is too expensive – a $1.8 billion boondoggle – and flies in the face of reality and the facts.

This expansion would mean the destruction and elimination of the homes of at least 50 families in those neighborhoods. That is adding insult to injury because when I-70 was first built 50 years ago a conscious decision was made to route it through those neighborhoods – effectively splitting them in two – rather than route it north through non-residential areas. People in those neighborhoods have been living with the consequences ever since. And those consequences have been severe.

Serious health issues

Denver’s Department of Environmental Health Assessment of Globeville, Elyria and Swansea has produced some very disturbing information about health quality, equity and environmental justice in those neighborhoods; information that is even more disturbing when seen in the context of an expanded I-70.

While the Department’s Health Assessment focused on Globeville, Elyria and Swansea in City Council District 9 there are three other Council Districts along the I-70 Corridor – Council Districts 1, 8, 11 – that have similar disturbing health outcomes.

These four city council districts have the highest death rates attributable to cardiovascular disease in the city; a more than 50 percent greater death rate in those areas than the rest of the city. These residents live on average 3.5 years less than residents in the rest of Denver. Other health outcomes are also more serious in these districts than the rest of the city. These negative health issues are directly tied to air pollution from tailpipe emissions of vehicles on I-70.

The expansion of I-70 will seriously exacerbate these health issues.

Your grandfather’s highway

The expansion is unnecessary. Traffic trends in Denver and other large American cities in America show significant, declining vehicle usage. Driving peaked in 2004 and has been declining ever since. An analysis of data of the Federal Highway Administration and the Census bureau shows that driving has decreased by 8 percent since 2005. But CDOT still claims their ‘traffic model’ says that we need those extra lanes. But it is basing its “model” on data from 2003 – data that is more than 11 years out of date.

No wonder CDOT’s projection is inconsistent with reality. In fact, traffic projections since 1999 have been notoriously wrong, with traffic projections consistently far exceeding actual outcomes. An analysis of Data by the State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) showed that since 1999 projections of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) have exceeded actual VMT by 22 percent.

The fact is that CDOT is still rooted in the 20th Century and wants to build your grandfather’s highway when what we need is a transportation system for the 21st Century: a transportation system that looks at moving people not just vehicles.

Whither other projects

CDOT estimates the cost to expand this freeway from Colorado Boulevard to Brighton Boulevard is more than $1 billion. Phases two and three – continuing the expansion to Pena Boulevard – brings the cost to $1.8 billion. Remember, this at a time when highways and bridges around the state are in desperate need of repair and maintenance.

This expansion will consume over half of the State’s Bridge Fund for the next 20 years. That means that people in the other 63 counties in Colorado will watch as their projects go unrealized so that this unnecessary project can go forward. On the other hand, not going to 10 lanes will mean that significant resources could be devoted to realizing those projects and repairs in the rest of the state.

What we need is a plan for the reconstruction of I-70 that deals with reality that does not deal indifferently with the people in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea, and is not a $1.8 billion boondoggle.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is currently open for public comment and will remain so until Oct. 14: You can make yourself heard by commenting on the statement.

It is important that CDOT and the leadership in Denver and Colorado hear your concerns about this expansion. Let them know that you are concerned about the negative health consequences of this expansion; let them know that you don’t want to see money imprudently spent on an unnecessary and unjustified expansion.

The public can view the studies at 17 metro Denver locations, including libraries, city halls and government offices, as well as online at www.i-70east.com.

People can submit their comments by email at contactus@i-70east.com, by telephone at 303.757.9413 and online at www.i-70east.com. They can also send comments via U.S. mail, to: I-70 East Project Team, Colorado Department of Transportation, 2000 South Holly St., Denver, CO 80222.

Dennis Gallagher is the elected Auditor of the City of Denver.