Wheat Ridge – Roads near the intersection of Interstate 70 and Colorado 58 have languished for years, but possible upgrades have been jump-started by a proposed Cabela’s sporting-goods store.
The Colorado Transportation Commission will consider three approaches today to fixing the area’s traffic congestion and handling the onslaught of shoppers to Cabela’s “retail destination showroom.”
“We’re ecstatic that Cabela’s is coming to Jefferson County and Wheat Ridge,” said Jefferson County Commissioner Kevin McCasky. “But it’s imperative that traffic not come through residential streets.”
The 230,000-square-foot store on 40 acres southwest of I-70 and Colorado 58 is seen as the beginning of the area’s possible development of more than a half-million square feet of commercial and retail projects.
With as many as 35,000 vehicles expected to visit Cabela’s on Sundays, traffic consultants have studied current congestion and projected Cabela’s impact on regional roads near the site.
Each of the road-improvement alternatives in a just-completed feasibility study carries a price tag of more than $100 million. An overriding question is who will pick up the tab.
The traffic study does not specify a timeline or a funding plan, and the Transportation Commission’s approval would be contingent on decisions by several other agencies.
Plans for the Cabela’s have been delayed a year by the study and an ongoing environmental assessment. The “Disneyland of testosterone,” as local developer Jim Sullivan has called it, is shooting for a Sept. 1, 2007, opening.
Mark Nienhueser, Cabela’s construction manager, said Cabela’s wants road improvements before opening and will pay its share – about $15 million – but many road problems aren’t connected with the store.
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a resolution today that commits up to $10 million to the road project.
Officials at the Colorado Department of Transportation say they recognize the need to build never- completed ramps between I-70 and Colorado 58 and will commit up to $60 million, although $46.3 million of that is linked to the approval of Referendums C and D in November.
The remainder, said Wheat Ridge City Manager Randy Young, will be the responsibility of Wheat Ridge, which annexed the land this year, and through revenue bonds issued by a metropolitan district created to share tax revenues with Cabela’s.
The traffic consultants say improvements that should be done regardless of the alternative include: an I-70 underpass eight blocks north of West 32nd Avenue, turn lanes along West 44th Avenue between Youngfield Street and Ward Road, and the widening of Youngfield from West 38th Avenue to West 44th Avenue.
Area homeowners say they are satisfied that they were heard during the process.
“We’re really, really pleased that the state has required a new interchange on Colorado 58 as one of the alternatives,” said Barbara Barry, president of the 1,700-household Applewood Valley Homeowners Association.
Barry said the interchange would be the “front door” or main access to Cabela’s and would relieve West 32nd Avenue congestion for residents.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
