Toll lanes, commuter buses eyed to curtail I-25 congestion
Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tolls vs. free lanes, buses vs. trains.
Those are the remaining tag- team options for improving growing congestion along Interstate 25 between Denver and Fort Collins.
One option consists of adding toll lanes rather than free lanes to I-25, and running frequent commuter bus service in those lanes.
The other calls for adding one lane in each direction combined with a rail system in the U.S. 287 corridor west of I-25 and commuter buses on U.S. 85 from Greeley to Denver.
The options are reflected in the North I-25 environmental impact study being conducted by the Colorado Department of Transportation. It will be circulated in draft version next month to federal officials and agencies along the corridor. It will go to public hearings next year before a final version is prepared.
The $19 million study is a required step in building a federally funded project. A final decision on which option to build is expected in 2009.
No price tag has been placed on either option. But there is no money on the horizon anyway, so it is anyone's guess when or if construction could begin.
"We are equal opportunity here, as we lack enough funding for both the transit and the highway alternatives," said Tom Anzia, of Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, a consultant to CDOT on the study.
Traffic is projected to outstrip I-25's capacity as north Front Range growth continues. The study projects daily traffic as high as 140,000 vehicles a day in some segments of the corridor by 2030.
One controversial aspect of the draft version is the proposed expansion to eight lanes between Frederick and E-470. At that point, I-25 would remain six lanes, guaranteeing a traffic bottleneck.
On the transit side, the study found that the commuter rail proposal would attract more riders but is more expensive than the bus option running in the toll lanes. The bus rapid transit proposal plus the toll lanes would result in the greatest congestion relief on the highway, the study says.
flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247
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