Longmont – A lush island of cottonwoods, host to swooping herons and bounding white-tail deer, soon will be sliced by a slab of roadway that Weld County officials hope will relieve traffic congestion in the area.
Planners aim to build a 1-mile connection for Weld County Road 7 – including a bridge over the St. Vrain River – that will cut through the western edge of St. Vrain State Park to link with Weld County Road 26.
Weld County says the $6.75 million project is needed to get more traffic off a heavily used Interstate 25 and help serve new development in the area, including 2,000 homes planned just north of the park.
But parks officials and users say the new road could ruin fragile habitat and destroy a natural barrier in a county becoming overrun by new homes and business parks.
“St. Vrain Park is one of those little jewels in Colorado that will grow to be a lot more important in Colorado in the next few years,” said Lyle Laverty, state parks director.
Parks officials are negotiating with Weld County to nudge the road elsewhere or find ways to lessen its impact. But Weld County officials say the road is needed as an alternative for local drivers who use I-25 to get to and from work. The county owns the right of way to extend the road.
St. Vrain State Park is bordered on the east by I-25 and the south by Colorado 119. As more homes and businesses move into the county, the pressure on I-25 will only increase, said Frank Hempen, Weld County public works director.
“People already treat I-25 like it’s their main street,” Hempen said. “We need to establish a corridor to get local traffic onto arterial roads, like this one, to help the flow.”
Weld is the 32nd-fastest- growing county in the nation. It ballooned to 211,272 people from 180,862 over a three-year period ending in April 2003.
As many as 15,000 vehicles per day are projected to use the Weld County Road 7 connection by 2025, which could be destructive to animal habitats in the park, according to park officials.
“We realize there is a lot of growth in that area, but open space is important too,” said Tom Ready, chairman of the Colorado State Parks Board.
The 563-acre park is one of the largest nesting areas of herons in the state, if not North America, say officials.
And less than a quarter-mile away from all the wildlife activity rests a housing development with homes priced at $500,000 or above.
Nearly 90,000 people visited the park last year, with most of them wetting lines in four ponds stocked with warm-water fish.
The park also is slated for expansion after the state, the city of Longmont and Weld County used $14 million in lottery proceeds to buy more open space, Laverty said.
The Division of Wildlife soon will weigh the effects of construction on park animals, he said. “But common sense will tell you there is likely to be some impacts,” Laverty said.
Weld County will soon choose one of five alignments for the new road. “One of our primary concerns is that it not have a significant impact in the wetland areas,” Hempen said.
Later this year, the county also will begin negotiating with private landowners in the area, including farms that surround the proposed connection.
Any new roadway will not sit well with nearby animals and humans, said Dorothy Van Dyke, a Westminster resident who recently enjoyed a lazy afternoon of fishing at one of the park’s ponds.
“There is already too much noise on both sides of the park,” Van Dyke said. “That’s the last thing we need is more traffic.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or at mwhaley@denverpost.com.
