Quote:
Originally Posted by glowrock
I tend to agree on this one, soonermeteor. With the whole 76/25/270/36 disaster just NOW fixed appropriately, moving I-70 even closer to it will only make matters worse in the area...
Look, I have no problem with them doing a cut and fill of I-70 in its current alignment, or even moving it a little further north. But moving it that far north is a serious problem in terms of traffic flow...
Granted, something needs to be done. It's just not a reasonable situation to simply rebuild it in its current location. But I'm not sure what the right answer really is. No way you can widen 76 and 270 enough to handle I-70 traffic without additional roadway, so you can't just expand those two and eliminate I-70 entirely in those 7-8 miles... Just not sure...
Aaron (Glowrock)
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Not inappropriate concerns to raise . . .
however, among the issues to consider - ultimately you have to decide what the priorities? Just the optimal movement of traffic? What what neighborhoods and where people live? What about opportunities to not only re-seam these neighborhoods together, but create an opportunities for redevelopment and infill close to the downtown area?
I like BCP's comment regarding a well designed boulevard with the appropriate mainstreet type zoning along it - just think of the infill and development opportunities along that 5 mile or so stretch between Vasquez Boulevard and Harlan Street. New housing, reestablished commercial districts, reinvigorated parks serving more transit-oriented development - it could be pretty cool!
In my book, the priority should be on making these neighborhoods whole again - with all due respect, the comments focusing more on the highways and traffic seem to not be sensitive to communities they impact. Those seem to be concerns more on engineering and movement of machines, rather than on the quality of the places where people live and work in North Denver.
Regarding the mousetrap?? It'll still be there, and will serve and the interchange between the new surface boulevard where it intersects with I-25. So it's not being wasted, its not being thrown away. Probably at a larger scale than the normal interchange between a freeway and a surface thoroughfare, but no big deal.
Regarding a new interchange where the relocated I-70 would intersect with I-25 - actually being able to design afresh has some advantages too. If the I-70 corridor is to incorporate HOV/HOT lanes in the future - there really is no opportunity to add at the current mousetrap ramp configurations that would provide for HOV-to-HOV only ramp access between the 2 interstates. That could, however, be designed into the new interchange along a realignment. So you could have general purpose lane ramps between I-25 and I-70 as well as separate ramps for HOV . . . this treatment in and of itself would go a long way to address the traffic "mess" issues of concern.
And others who have comment on this thread have also picked up on the fact that the this proposal for a realigned E-W corridor through north Denver would actually provide additional traffic benefits with both (1) a relocated interstate highway AND (2) a new surface boulevard as part of the mobility mix.
I shutter at the thought of a reconstructed I-70 in its current location becoming a 10-12 lane monstrosity in the future from DIA to Wheat Ridge - not out of the realm of a DOT-type of perspective of having simply to consider engineering traffic with disregard for the communities through which it is located. If there is more traffic demand for E-W movement through the northern sector of the city - then I would argue that having one facility designed mainly for through traffic (i.e, the relocated I-70) and a more context-sensitive surface boulevard for more localized traffic is a better solution. I-70 could remain an 8-lane type of facility (3 general purpose lanes and an HOV lane in either direction) and the surface boulevard could be a 4-lane arterial, with complete streets type of treatments for transit and sidewalks as well.
Yes, the I-70 and I-25 interchange would be closer to the I-25 interchange with I-76/US-36 - but again, that could be well designed to improve the overall flow of all of the highways in the area. Again, the HOV-to-HOV issue - since the current I-25 HOV/HOT lane exits onto US-36 to Boulder, the realigned I-70 could easily be designed to connect with that HOV system. (Something that is nearly impossible to try to retrofit into the existing mousetrap.)
As for burying or depressing I-70 from some point near the Colosseum and continuing that west . . . that definitely has some intrigue. I'd say that is just another example, though, that reinforces that I-70 was ill-sited from the get go and never belonged along the 48th Avenue alignment in North Denver.
Finally, how far "north" of the current 46th Avenue/48th Avenue should the relocated highway go? Take some time and go check the area out. East of I-25 there's ample right-of-way roughly where 50th or 52nd Avenue would be aligned. West of I-25, because of a bluff and existing residential areas on that southern edge of Adams County, the best right-of-way seems to be an alignment somewhere roughly between 54th and 57th Avenues. I-70 would intersect with the I-76 alignment somewhere between Zuni and Federal and continue westerly from that point.