I-70
The One Person Who Can Stop the I-70 Widening Is John Hickenlooper
While Colorado DOT seems hell-bent on spending billions of dollars to widen I-70, it’s not too late to stop the project. If Governor John Hickenlooper says the word, the city can still escape unscathed from the state’s efforts to ram a super-wide below-grade highway through north Denver. Going through with the highway widening will have long-lasting consequences, saddling the … Continued
February 24, 2016
Affordable Housing Advocate: CDOT Must Pay for Impact of I-70 Widening
Most DOTs will tell you it’s their job to build roads and highways, plain and simple. Whatever gets in the way of that, well, that’s not their problem. In the case of Colorado DOT’s I-70 expansion, it’s residents of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea who are in the way. At the project’s onset, CDOT will bulldoze 56 homes and 18 … Continued
February 19, 2016
The Denver Post Cheers for a Car-Choked Future
Some people think widening highways is just an inherently good idea — the more space for traffic, the better. Count the Denver Post in that camp. The Post recently threw its wholehearted support behind widening I-70 by four lanes. Believing that wider highways will fix traffic problems is like believing that loosening your belt will fix your waistline. We … Continued
February 11, 2016
North Denver Residents to CDOT: Take a Hike With Your I-70 Widening Plan
The Colorado Department of Transportation and the City and County of Denver have tied so many projects to the repair of an aging I-70 viaduct that residents of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea have to support adding four lanes to the highway in order to get basic amenities that are commonplace in richer neighborhoods. In order … Continued
February 4, 2016
Tell CDOT Why Widening I-70 in North Denver Is a Bad Idea
The fight over Colorado DOT’s billion-dollar-plus plan to widen I-70 is coming to a head. Many residents, especially of north Denver where the highway has spliced neighborhoods for years, have spoken against this project since around the turn of the century. They’ll bear the brunt of the additional noise and pollution, but widening the highway … Continued
February 1, 2016
Denver Can Have Great Neighborhood Streets If CDOT Tears Down I-70
Unite North Metro Denver has an idea about what to do with I-70. Instead of widening the highway and pumping more traffic into the city like Colorado DOT wants, tear it down and replace it with an urban boulevard, reconnecting the urban fabric of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea. CDOT is pushing its billion-dollar-plus plan to reconstruct and … Continued
January 29, 2016
Count the Holes in Colorado DOT’s Justification for the I-70 Widening
A lot of people don’t like Colorado DOT’s plan to widen I-70 in north Denver — and for good reason. Expanding I-70 will generate more traffic, noise pollution, and greenhouse gases while costing a bundle of money that could be spent on other things, like, say, better transit. Opponents of the road widening told CDOT why they … Continued
January 20, 2016
It’s Official: Widening I-70 Among America’s Most Wasteful Highway Boondoggles
In front of the rumbling I-70 underpass at the corner of 46th and Columbine, a stone’s throw from kids playing tag during Swansea Elementary School’s recess, CoPIRG Director Danny Katz told reporters Tuesday that taxpayers could save at least $58 million if Colorado DOT nixed its plan to widen the interstate by four lanes. Katz was answering questions about a … Continued
January 19, 2016
#StreetFail: Crossing the Quebec Street Slant
Here’s a terrible design failure. I-70 is a barrier between Stapleton and Northfield. The Quebec Street underpass is supposed to provide a way across, but it only works well if you’re driving. Good luck walking it. There are other ways across I-70 on foot. You could, for instance, walk a half-hour to cross at Central … Continued
January 13, 2016
Get Ready for More Traffic as CDOT Plows Ahead With I-70 Expansion
There are plenty of reasons why the scheme to widen I-70 in north Denver is subject to so much scrutiny: It’s going to cause more traffic, relocate 74 homes and businesses, pollute some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, and cost between $1 billion and $2 billion to build. Oh, and Colorado DOT used questionable traffic projections … Continued
January 13, 2016