[docroc]

Just some quick musings . . .

(1) When the proposal to realign I-70 to the north first came into play - effectively bypassing Swansea & Elyria - I was very intrigued. The viaduct through that part of town should never have been built in the first place.

(2) Subsequently, I wondered - why stop there? Why not continue and remove I-70 from neighborhoods in NW Denver too - i.e., Chafee Park and Berkeley - and relocate the highway just north of the Berkeley Gardens neighborhood (unincorporated Adams County from 52nd Avenue to about 56th Avenue)?

(3) However, one of the responses offered further up the thread was very intriguing. It questioned whether the current I-70 alignment is needed at all - given that since that highway and its hideous viaduct were built - we now have other limited access highways in the form of a northern "inner belt" (i.e., I-270 and I-76) as well as an "outer belt" (i.e., 470). So why not just reconstruct I-270 and I-76 and re-route I-70 on that alignment - and create a boulevard on East 46th Avenue (east of the Mousetrap) and on West 48th Avenue (west of the Mousetrap).

(4) While the notion of "freeway removal" is high on my list - I do see that there are a lot of challenges in applying that to the I-70 corridor. Clearly, I-70 as it currently functions is bad. But, rather than just looking rather narrowly only at the existing highway envelope from Brighton Blvd to Colorado Blvd - I think there is a need for a true corridor study of I-70 from Wheat Ridge/Lakewood to DIA - that includes I-270/I-76, FasTracks East Corridor, etc. It should be a truly multimodal solution that is developed - with outright "freeway removal" along E. 46th Avenue as one of the factors.

(5) Okay - recognizing where CDOT is at in the process - which seems to be to rebuild a better viaduct through NE Denver - then I tend to prefer options that would provide better linkages across Elyria & Swansea, reduce noise & visual pollution through design (if that is possible), and creates as good of an environment as possible adjacent to the highway - with improved streetscaping, etc. in the neighborhoods. If the highway's going to stay, then mitigate, mitigate, mitigate!

(6) This ultimately leads me to prefer the option that would shift the highway south - and condemning that monstrosity that is the Purina plant at York St. That would definitely be a win for the neighborhood (could that even count as mitigation) - and for travelers! And would also eliminate the "ice" conditions which that lump-of-a-building causes in the winter with its shadows on the highway. Easily, Purina is the most ugly factory-type structure in the metro area . . . (now that the old Post Office Annex in downtown is gone).