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Colorado

Started by mightyace, March 04, 2009, 01:20:28 PM

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zzcarp

Quote from: mgk920 on August 08, 2020, 12:32:37 AM
Quote from: zzcarp on August 07, 2020, 12:59:42 AM

Neither E-470 nor the Northwest Parkway are truly private roads. E-470 is a public authority controlled by Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties along with the Town of Parker and the cities of Commerce City, Brighton, Aurora, and Thornton. The Northwest Parkway, while leased to a private operator, is also a public authority consisting of the City and County of Broomfield and the City of Lafayette.

In addition to the Colorado State Patrol, Aurora commonly sets up stationary speed traps on the portion of E-470 within its limits. I've not seen Thornton, Commerce City, or Brighton running traffic enforcement on their sections. Broomfield annexed the entire Northwest Parkway right-of-way and its police consistently run traffic patrols there.

I thought that as its own county, Broomfield was unable to annex any more territory (just like WRT Denver).

Mike

Yes, the Colorado Constitution states:

QuoteArticle XIV, Section 3.  Striking off territory vote. Except as otherwise provided by statute, no part of the territory of any county shall be stricken off and added to an adjoining county, without first submitting the question to the registered electors of the county from which the territory is proposed to be stricken off; nor unless a majority of all the registered electors of said county voting on the question shall vote therefor.

Therefore any future annexations for Denver or Broomfield will require a vote of the county from which the land is annexed. Broomfield also has a boundary commission consisting of reps from Weld, Boulder, Jefferson, and Adams County and 3 Broomfield reps for which majority approval is required before annexation proceedings can commence.

Regarding the Northwest Parkway shoestring annexation, the state constitutional amendment creating Broomfield as a city/county was approved by voters in November 1998, and it contained a three year transition period. They could annex land as shown on their May 1998 master plan without any public votes until November 15, 2001.

I believe that the Northwest Parkway right-of-way was reserved on that master plan and annexed before construction began in June 2001.

Also, when I researched this issue, I discovered that there is a tiny portion of the Northwest Parkway in Lafayette. This is around the US 287 interchange and basically follows the eastbound lanes of Dillon Road from the underpass west of US 287 to the railroad spur east of US 287. I have never seen the Lafayette police patrolling the Parkway proper.
So many miles and so many roads


mgk920

Quote from: zzcarp on August 09, 2020, 10:34:23 AM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 08, 2020, 12:32:37 AM
Quote from: zzcarp on August 07, 2020, 12:59:42 AM

Neither E-470 nor the Northwest Parkway are truly private roads. E-470 is a public authority controlled by Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties along with the Town of Parker and the cities of Commerce City, Brighton, Aurora, and Thornton. The Northwest Parkway, while leased to a private operator, is also a public authority consisting of the City and County of Broomfield and the City of Lafayette.

In addition to the Colorado State Patrol, Aurora commonly sets up stationary speed traps on the portion of E-470 within its limits. I've not seen Thornton, Commerce City, or Brighton running traffic enforcement on their sections. Broomfield annexed the entire Northwest Parkway right-of-way and its police consistently run traffic patrols there.

I thought that as its own county, Broomfield was unable to annex any more territory (just like WRT Denver).

Mike

Yes, the Colorado Constitution states:

QuoteArticle XIV, Section 3.  Striking off territory vote. Except as otherwise provided by statute, no part of the territory of any county shall be stricken off and added to an adjoining county, without first submitting the question to the registered electors of the county from which the territory is proposed to be stricken off; nor unless a majority of all the registered electors of said county voting on the question shall vote therefor.

Therefore any future annexations for Denver or Broomfield will require a vote of the county from which the land is annexed. Broomfield also has a boundary commission consisting of reps from Weld, Boulder, Jefferson, and Adams County and 3 Broomfield reps for which majority approval is required before annexation proceedings can commence.

Regarding the Northwest Parkway shoestring annexation, the state constitutional amendment creating Broomfield as a city/county was approved by voters in November 1998, and it contained a three year transition period. They could annex land as shown on their May 1998 master plan without any public votes until November 15, 2001.

I believe that the Northwest Parkway right-of-way was reserved on that master plan and annexed before construction began in June 2001.

Also, when I researched this issue, I discovered that there is a tiny portion of the Northwest Parkway in Lafayette. This is around the US 287 interchange and basically follows the eastbound lanes of Dillon Road from the underpass west of US 287 to the railroad spur east of US 287. I have never seen the Lafayette police patrolling the Parkway proper.

From what I'm getting from the highlighted part, am I correct in that the state legislature can pass/governor sign a law allowing those 'city-counties' to start annexing territory again by using whatever rules the state sets up, should they so desire?

:hmmm:

Mike

zzcarp

Quote from: mgk920 on August 15, 2020, 02:48:08 PM
From what I'm getting from the highlighted part, am I correct in that the state legislature can pass/governor sign a law allowing those 'city-counties' to start annexing territory again by using whatever rules the state sets up, should they so desire?

:hmmm:

Mike

The "unless otherwise authorized by statute" has been thus far limited to technical items such as boundary agreements and the settlement of irregular boundaries between Denver and Jefferson, Adams, and Arapahoe of less than 50 acres. The list of Colorado Revised Statutes are here.


I believe there is a limiting principle here-the legislature can't override the constitution willy-nilly, even an activist one as you suppose. Even most of the statutes still contain the right of the people to vote, or, at minimum the county commissioners and a boundary commission. Disclaimer, I'm no lawyer, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
So many miles and so many roads

Plutonic Panda

First I-270 reconstruction project meeting August 30th.

https://www.codot.gov/projects/i270

It would be nice if they added at least one or two lanes each way and connect northfield with a new bridge to 49th. Lots of room for improvements on this stretch of interstate.

zzcarp

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 17, 2020, 05:46:11 PM
First I-270 reconstruction project meeting August 30th.

https://www.codot.gov/projects/i270

It would be nice if they added at least one or two lanes each way and connect northfield with a new bridge to 49th. Lots of room for improvements on this stretch of interstate.

That would be nice. We're much more likely to get a toll lane and hopefully a much needed improvement to the Vasquez cloverleaf which is the biggest bottleneck in the corridor.
So many miles and so many roads

Plutonic Panda

It sucks Colorado has been going crazy with toll lanes. I don't mind them but not on 4 lane freeways especially the way Colorado does it with 2-1-1-2 setup which is the worst.

zzcarp

CDOT's monofocus on HOT lanes and lack of focus on auxiliary lanes and lane parity is a problem. On the current I-70 project, they could have had 5 through lanes in the 2 miles between I-270 and I-225 along I-70. Instead, they force an eastbound lane drop at Peoria street (back to) 4 just to expand back to 5 at the exit. Very little additional pavement would have been necessary to bring actual improvements to the public, and it doesn't seem like that's CDOT's purpose.
So many miles and so many roads

US 89

Quote from: zzcarp on August 17, 2020, 08:08:44 PM
CDOT's monofocus on HOT lanes and lack of focus on auxiliary lanes and lane parity is a problem.

Agree. I have family in the southwest suburbs of Denver, so every 2 years or so I'll visit that area. There's been construction on C-470 the past several times I've been out there, so I was hoping the end goal of that would be at least 3 general purpose lanes in each direction. I was incredibly disappointed with the 2+1 configuration I saw there this summer.

mrsman

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 17, 2020, 06:41:28 PM
It sucks Colorado has been going crazy with toll lanes. I don't mind them but not on 4 lane freeways especially the way Colorado does it with 2-1-1-2 setup which is the worst.

That is terrible.  I don't know how it makes even remote sense to have 2 toll lanes for 1 general purpose lane. And from what I hear on the forum the rate per mile on these toll roads is quite expensive.

BigManFromAFRICA88

Quote from: mrsman on August 20, 2020, 08:16:49 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 17, 2020, 06:41:28 PM
It sucks Colorado has been going crazy with toll lanes. I don't mind them but not on 4 lane freeways especially the way Colorado does it with 2-1-1-2 setup which is the worst.

That is terrible.  I don't know how it makes even remote sense to have 2 toll lanes for 1 general purpose lane. And from what I hear on the forum the rate per mile on these toll roads is quite expensive.

Only slightly less disappointing but I'm pretty sure US 89 means the other way around haha. At minimum, C-470 could use 3 general purpose lanes. I don't see how that's so hard to implement, I had the same criticism when they redid I-35W as 2-2-2-2 in Texas.

US 89

Quote from: BigManFromAFRICA88 on August 20, 2020, 01:01:28 PM
Quote from: mrsman on August 20, 2020, 08:16:49 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 17, 2020, 06:41:28 PM
It sucks Colorado has been going crazy with toll lanes. I don't mind them but not on 4 lane freeways especially the way Colorado does it with 2-1-1-2 setup which is the worst.

That is terrible.  I don't know how it makes even remote sense to have 2 toll lanes for 1 general purpose lane. And from what I hear on the forum the rate per mile on these toll roads is quite expensive.

Only slightly less disappointing but I'm pretty sure US 89 means the other way around haha. At minimum, C-470 could use 3 general purpose lanes. I don't see how that's so hard to implement, I had the same criticism when they redid I-35W as 2-2-2-2 in Texas.

Yeah, I meant 2 GP lanes and one toll lane in each direction. When I was out there the tolls hadn't yet been implemented and there was actually a decent flow of traffic, but I'm betting the usual congestion returns once tolling begins (if it hasn't already).

zzcarp

Quote from: US 89 on August 20, 2020, 01:51:29 PM
Quote from: BigManFromAFRICA88 on August 20, 2020, 01:01:28 PM
Quote from: mrsman on August 20, 2020, 08:16:49 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 17, 2020, 06:41:28 PM
It sucks Colorado has been going crazy with toll lanes. I don't mind them but not on 4 lane freeways especially the way Colorado does it with 2-1-1-2 setup which is the worst.

That is terrible.  I don't know how it makes even remote sense to have 2 toll lanes for 1 general purpose lane. And from what I hear on the forum the rate per mile on these toll roads is quite expensive.

Only slightly less disappointing but I'm pretty sure US 89 means the other way around haha. At minimum, C-470 could use 3 general purpose lanes. I don't see how that's so hard to implement, I had the same criticism when they redid I-35W as 2-2-2-2 in Texas.

Yeah, I meant 2 GP lanes and one toll lane in each direction. When I was out there the tolls hadn't yet been implemented and there was actually a decent flow of traffic, but I'm betting the usual congestion returns once tolling begins (if it hasn't already).

They began tolling the C-470 lanes Tuesday. Interestingly, these are not HOT lanes (no HOV-3 discount), but motorcycles still travel free.

I don't think they're seeing the traffic jams right now due to people working from home. I just checked the CDOT cameras at C-470 and Santa Fe, and general purpose lane traffic is free-flowing. Typically at 5:30 on a weekday westbound traffic is slammed there and eastbound traffic begins jamming just east of there.



So many miles and so many roads

Elm

I was surprised today to see a few articles (like this) about bill to designate a future I-27 in Colorado, related to the Ports-to-Plains Corridor; I'll be curious to see how the bill and subject develop now that they might get some more time in the public eye.

The surprise was that the bill would be created possibly without CDOT's support, since it seems like CDOT's been trying not to get involved with the interstate designation, which the articles do get into. Last month, there was a presentation to the Transportation Commission about Ports-to-Plains and I-27–informational only, although the informal request to support designating a future interstate was there–which got a lukewarm reception overall. Those slides are here, and there's a recording on YouTube on Youtube (link should start 1:17:05).

The Ghostbuster

I don't see Interstate 27 being extended north of Amarillo, or south of Lubbock; let alone connecting Laredo with Colorado. I'd be shocked if Interstate 27 is ever extended. However, Texas is a state where anything can happen, so I'll believe it when I see it.

zzcarp

Senator Gardner's bill referred to in the article is calling for solely upgrading CO 71 from Limon to Brush. CDOT did study this facility (released in May) and did state that an Interstate-grade facility would attract 1100 trucks per day. The current traffic count there is 1100 vehicles per day and has remained constant over the last 20 years, so I really dispute any savings there. Colorado just has too many highway needs to waste money on an unneeded upgrade.
So many miles and so many roads

Elm

Quote from: zzcarp on September 29, 2020, 04:57:42 PMSenator Gardner's bill referred to in the article is calling for solely upgrading CO 71 from Limon to Brush. CDOT did study this facility (released in May) and did state that an Interstate-grade facility would attract 1100 trucks per day. The current traffic count there is 1100 vehicles per day and has remained constant over the last 20 years, so I really dispute any savings there. Colorado just has too many highway needs to waste money on an unneeded upgrade.

I think the request applies to the full corridor, but the Limon-Brush segment is isolated because it's part of the Heartland Expressway (14) rather than the official Ports-to-Plains (38). If I'm reading correctly, page 2 lines 8-9 in the bill pdf would apply the interstate designation to Ports-to-Plains, including the Colorado portion.

Incidentally, I just realized that the separate future interstate request from Texas and New Mexico (HB 7151) includes the corridor(s) in Colorado. Although I wasn't watching too closely, I thought they had cut the request back to just TX/NM when CDOT didn't give a letter of support, so hypothetical I-27 would end at I-25 around Raton.

JayhawkCO

I've said this in other threads.  No one lives out there.  The most important city in eastern Colorado is Limon, and it has less than 2,000 people and is only important because there's an interstate and multiple US highways that go through it.  The largest town is Sterling and it has less than 15,000 people.  Having driven about 70% of the roads east of I-25 here recently on my (somewhat questionably wise) attempt to clinch the state, there is no good reason to have an interstate out there.  The route mostly used by semis, US287, is plenty enough for the volume that goes from Texas up to Denver.  It barely passes through towns, so a limited access highway is not that much of an upgrade.

Chris

zachary_amaryllis

as long as we're talking colorado...

climb lanes. nw of fort collins on 287 (what locals call the 'bypass'), as you start up a hill there's a climb lane, which ends oh 1/2 mile later or so at the top of the hill. maybe a mile further highway north, it begins again, starting a 4-lane stretch of a few miles.

how much money did codot save by making this road a super-2 with the climb lanes, vs. just 4-laning it? there's certainly enough traffic, says guy who drives this road almost daily.
clinched:
I-64, I-80, I-76 (west), *64s in hampton roads, 225,270,180 (co, wy)

zachary_amaryllis

i searched and didn't find anything on this, so if it exists, point me to it..

why would us 400 go into colorado at all? its concurrent with 50 until somewhere in kansas, seems like its needlessly there.
clinched:
I-64, I-80, I-76 (west), *64s in hampton roads, 225,270,180 (co, wy)

zzcarp

Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on October 10, 2020, 10:43:27 AM
i searched and didn't find anything on this, so if it exists, point me to it..

why would us 400 go into colorado at all? its concurrent with 50 until somewhere in kansas, seems like its needlessly there.

From the USEnds website article on the subject:

QuoteIt is also true that US 400 enters Colorado.  But originally that was not the case.  And, like Missouri, the entire Colorado segment is concurrent with another US route (US 50).  The most likely scenario in 1996 was that KDoT decided they wanted to extend their corridor all the way to their western border, but they assumed AASHTO would not have allowed a US route to terminate at a state line*, so they asked CDoT to jointly apply for a western extension of US 400.  Colorado agreed simply for the sake of being a good neighbor, but clearly CDoT has no use for the US 400 designation, as they terminate the route at the first US highway junction it encounters.
*this may have been an erroneous assumption, considering all of the other violations that AASHTO was willing to overlook with regard to US 400 designation.
So many miles and so many roads

kphoger

Quote from: Elm on September 29, 2020, 07:46:47 PM
Ports-to-Plains ... New Mexico

I just drove part of the PtP in New Mexico, and I saw this.

SCHOOL / SPEED LIMIT 15 / WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT

I must say, it really made me question how important the corridor is to the state of New Mexico...
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

halork

Quote from: kphoger on October 12, 2020, 10:08:02 AM
Quote from: Elm on September 29, 2020, 07:46:47 PM
Ports-to-Plains ... New Mexico

I just drove part of the PtP in New Mexico, and I saw this.

SCHOOL / SPEED LIMIT 15 / WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT

I must say, it really made me question how important the corridor is to the state of New Mexico...

It just means their children are MORE important.

zzcarp

A quite impressive GPS fail on Engineer Pass, a 4WD road in southwestern Colorado, where a 30' box truck got stuck on the pass.

QuoteA box truck got stuck near the top of a treacherous mountain road in Colorado over the weekend, all because he was following his GPS.

The 30-foot box truck got stuck on a mountain road north of Silverton, Colorado on Friday, October 16th and is still there, according to The Durango Herald.

The rugged mountain road is known as Engineer Pass, and is notorious for being one of the most tricky, treacherous, and steep backcountry roads in the area. The road has a peak elevation of 12,800 feet and requires four-wheel-drive and a high-clearance vehicle. It is a part of the Alpine Loop, which connects Silverton, Co to Ouray, Co and goes all the way to Lake City through a series of rocky roads through the San Juan Mountains.

Officials say the truck was near the top of Engineer Pass following a GPS route heading towards Lake City when he tried to turn around, getting himself stuck near the top.

There's a great picture and the rest of the story at the link.
So many miles and so many roads

Plutonic Panda

If no one else does, I'll probably make a thread about this when a preferred alternative is selected as it's a pretty significant project. I really, REALLY, hope CDOT does NOT go with tolled lanes. I don't like tolled lanes in general but I'm open to them. But have only one tolled lane in each direction, however, makes my blood boil. At that point you might as well just toll the entire freeway or build a third free lane. It makes zero sense to me and I always end up behind some slowpoke I can't get around on facilities like that less I want to risk crossing a double line and receive a ticket.

Anyways enough of my rant here is the article: https://www.cpr.org/2020/11/19/cdot-winds-up-for-i-70-floyd-hill-rebuild-but-costs-remain-a-steep-climb/

Plutonic Panda

I-70B in GJ is finally getting some much needed upgrades. They still need to modify the roads in the shopping complex anchored by Walmart in this area as it is always a cluster.

https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/cdot-finalizes-design-of-i-70b-near-downtown/article_716b9ce0-336c-11eb-b4e7-ef6e45f3e9bc.html



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