A glimpse down the road ahead for U.S. 24

State transportation experts have spent the last four years and nearly $7 million developing a plan for remaking U.S. Highway 24 west into an expressway capable of handling traffic in 2030.

Ironically, say some, the plan dooms the already unsightly highway corridor to further decay until then.

Call it the law of unintended consequences. State highway officials - after seeing the COSMIX renovation of Interstate 25 delayed because a necessary environmental assessment wasn't ready when money became available - have ordered such studies on major corridors be done early, even if they sit on the shelf for years.

And the plan for making U.S. 24 into a six- to eight-lane expressway will get dusty: Money to begin the project won't be available until 2016 at the earliest, and planners don't expect the makeover of U.S. 24 to be completed until 2030. The cost: $230 million, plus another $40 million to acquire property needed for improvements.

"They have basically cursed this highway to no growth for the next 20 years," said David Leinweber, owner of the Angler's Covey at the corner of U.S. 24 and 21st Street. "You won't see any flowers planted, that's for sure."

Leinweber is one of 61 business owners whose property is expected to be taken by eminent domain, along with six homes, to allow construction of an expressway similar to what has been envisioned - but not fully realized - on Powers Boulevard.

The long lead time between plan and execution will put business owners and nearby residents in "la la land" for years, said Pat Holmes, who owns Don's Body Shop and has two buildings on 21st Street north and south of U.S. 24, an intersection where a major interchange is envisioned.

He said the business owners he's spoken with say they are unwilling to expand or renovate until they're sure how they'll be affected by the highway work, and no one is willing to buy their properties until the future is clearer.

"Right now, they don't know what to do," Holmes said.

Dave Watt, resident engineer for the Colorado Department of Transportation, has overseen the environmental assessment through dozens of revisions and defended it in open houses with residents and business owners. He understands the implications of deciding what do about U.S. 24 years ahead of actually doing it.

"You don't want to tell people it's not going to happen in their lifetime, but you also don't want to generate undue stress," he said.

Still, he said it makes sense to start environmental assessments as early as possible, since they take years to complete. Such plans, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, are essentially blueprints of a project, honed through studies and dozens of meetings with experts and residents, that also identify potential impacts and spell out how those impacts will be mitigated. U.S. 24's plan, for example, will have spanned six years by the time it is submitted to the federal government in 2010.

Watt said having an environmental assessment ready will often raise the priority of a project over one that doesn't.

"If you're ready to spend the money, you're more likely to get it," he said.

Of course, just because the assessment is almost ready doesn't mean folks agree with it. And some, including Welling Clark, president of the Organization of Westside Neighbors, and some of the people he represents aren't happy.

Although many agree a new interchange at Interstate 25 and Cimarron Street and an interchange at Eighth Street are needed to deal with chronic congestion, consensus falls apart after that.

Some area residents object to the planned interchange at 21st Street; they believe the highway expansion would take too many properties, think it's too large and suspect the computer modeling that demonstrated the need for an expressway was flawed.

Watt said such disagreements are typical on road projects, especially one proposed for a highway that bisects a heavily urbanized corridor and that serves different needs. The highway is one of just a few Front Range routes into Colorado's high county for skiers, hikers and tourists. It transports commuters to and from Teller County. It provides access to retail districts including Motor City or Old Colorado City, and it ferries west-side, Skyway and Manitou Springs residents to work.

"There are a number of competing interests, and we had different opinions," Watt said. "Some wanted to travel really fast. Some wanted to go slow with as much (local) access as possible. Some wanted billboards to provide way-finding. Others said get rid of every billboard.

"There's a lot going on in that corridor," he said. "We are trying to strike that balance without overwhelming one or the other."

Meanwhile, Leinweber and Holmes are trying to come to grips with the uncertainty the project has created for their businesses.

Leinweber said he'll keep trying to expand his business until the state hands him a check for his building. He has a sneaking suspicion that cooler heads, higher priorities or sheer time might mean that day will never come for him.

"I just can't believe we'll ever see them spend $270 million for a three-mile stretch of road," he said. "And if they do, we'll be dead by then. Trust me."

Holmes, who would like to sell a satellite shop on the south side of U.S. 24 and expand his business on the other side of the highway, would rather not wait until old age before he feels confident doing that. He said he suspects the highway will need to be upgraded - he's seen the traffic increase on the road over the past half-dozen years and is sure development of Gold Hill Mesa will make that worse.

His take: "It's inevitable that it will need work, sooner or later. And it's better to do it sooner so people in the area can say, ‘OK, now I can invest in my business.'"

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Contact the writer: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com