Regional Boards > Mountain West
I-70 Central Project in Northeast Denver
Plutonic Panda:
This project is getting close to completion with substantial completion including opening of the park cap by November.
The Ghostbuster:
I highly doubt anyone will miss the old elevated viaduct. Even a highway lover like me should probably bid it a "good riddance".
andy3175:
Today, I changed the thread title to " I-70 Central Project in Northeast Denver" since the below grade section was built and nearly compete. Thanks for the suggestions to make this change.
rte66man:
from the AASHTO Journal:
https://aashtojournal.org/2022/12/16/colorado-officially-opens-new-highway-cover-park/
--- Quote ---Colorado Officially Opens New ‘Highway Cover’ Park
editor@aashto.org December 16, 2022
Governor Jared Polis (D) and the Colorado Department of Transportation recently celebrated the completion of a four-acre “highway cover” community park located over a newly lowered section of I-70; part of the state’s $1.2 billion Central 70 Project.
The Central 70 Project encompasses an area that is home to 1,200 businesses, provides the regional connection to Denver International Airport, and carries upwards of 200,000 vehicles each day.
Since its August 2018 groundbreaking, the Central 70 Project has reconstructed 10-miles of I-70, added one new Express Lane in each direction, removed an aging 57-year-old viaduct, lowered the interstate, and built the aforementioned four-acre park for the surrounding community.
“We are making Colorado roads safer, reducing traffic, and making sure that Coloradans and visitors can get where they are going quickly and easily, including to visit the many thriving businesses along this stretch of road,” noted Gov. Polis in a statement.
“The Federal Highway Administration congratulates our partners in Colorado for this beautiful cover park,” noted Acting FHWA Administrator Stephanie Pollack.
“The project is a prime example of how transportation projects can reconnect communities rather than just going through them, bringing people-focused infrastructure improvements that will last for generations to come,” she said.
Colorado DOT began planning a revamp of the Central 70 corridor in 2003 and completed its environmental study 15 years later after significant changes to both the project and stakeholder engagement processes resulting from neighborhood concerns about the environmental and health impacts of the project.
As a result, the agency made over $30 million worth of specific commitments to communities affected by the project, in addition to changing the design to one that lowers the highway and connects the neighborhood via both the cover park and a network of at-grade bridges with pedestrian access.
Those commitments included:
* Constructing 38,700 linear square feet of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks making it possible to safely walk the full length of the Central 70 Project area;
* Improving community connectivity by adding new traffic signals and lights, crosswalks and pedestrian crossing signals, and extending 46th North and South avenues;
* Providing a $2 million grant to the local affordable housing collaborative to support affordable housing construction;
* Providing $18.5 million worth of improvements to Swansea Elementary School that included two new early childhood education classrooms, a new playground, a new main entrance and parking lot and new heating and air conditioning;
* Planting 100 trees and additional landscaping along 46th North Avenue and the new cover park;
* Providing interior storm windows and air conditioning units, plus financial assistance for utility costs, to over 260 homes to help mitigate dust and noise during construction.
* Ensuring job opportunities for residents through a 20-percent geographic-based hiring requirement from local communities while also requiring on-the-job training to provide opportunities for workers to advance to high-skill positions during the construction period.“This project is an example of how hard conversations can be productive and help us be better neighbors,” said Colorado DOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew.
“The advocacy of community members throughout this project helped Colorado DOT learn to take community feedback seriously and develop state-of-the-art processes for mitigating the impacts of large projects,” she added. “We thank them for their input and hope they see its results in the finished product.”
--- End quote ---
I was skimming the article when I came across this:
--- Quote ---...the agency made over $30 million worth of specific commitments to communities affected by the project
Providing $18.5 million worth of improvements to Swansea Elementary School that included two new early childhood education classrooms, a new playground, a new main entrance and parking lot and new heating and air conditioning;
--- End quote ---
Since when is it CDOT's job to spend funds to improve a school? New classrooms and a playground?
zzcarp:
--- Quote from: rte66man on December 19, 2022, 09:19:00 AM ---Since when is it CDOT's job to spend funds to improve a school? New classrooms and a playground?
--- End quote ---
This was a bribe, pure and simple, to attempt to appease the community activists to get the replacement approved. Their Denver city councilor, Candi CdeBaca (who calls herself a communist), lobbied hard to get I-70 removed and rerouted due to the normal reasons of community impact/anti-highway sentiment: emissions, community connectivity, etc. And it is true that this Elyria/Swansea area is the most industrial area left in Denver proper, so the actual residents have a lower quality of life than the majority of the gentrified city does-for example the Purina plant on the other side of the tracks does tend to smell like dog food. The school improvements and the park cover were built mainly to improve the community, and it was probably cheaper to add those improvements than to have the EIS sit in limbo due to lawsuits while the old viaduct was crumbling.
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