Golden – Golden officials said Wednesday that they will vigorously fight any effort by the state to construct a high-speed tollway in the city.
“We won’t accept a toll road through Golden. … I will fight it tooth and nail,” said Mayor Chuck Baroch, about a possible four-lane, 65 mph toll highway through the community.
“That’s a showstopper for the city of Golden,” Baroch told a meeting about proposed Northwest Corridor highway improvements.
High-speed highway lanes “will have some very negative effects,” showering nearby residents with noise and air pollution, Baroch said of the tolling option for the Colorado 93 and U.S. 6 corridors through the city.
Baroch and other Golden officials spoke at a gathering called by the Jefferson County commissioners to gauge city support for various Northwest Corridor options.
Colorado transportation officials have spent about $15 million on an environmental study of highway alternatives that would complete a beltway around the Denver area.
“Completing the circumferential belt is an imperative” for Jefferson County’s economic development, County Commissioner Kevin Mc Casky told those at Wednesday’s meeting.
But McCasky said completion of the beltway must be coupled with efforts to mitigate impacts on nearby residents.
Highway improvements should not be done at the expense of Golden’s “quality of life,” he said.
The only missing link in a metro beltway is the roughly 20-mile stretch from the Northwest Parkway toll road in Broomfield to C-470 in Golden, which state officials call the Northwest Corridor.
As they consider construction of a high-speed, four-lane tollway that would cost $1.2 billion, highway planners also are considering three other options for the corridor.
One is a high-speed freeway of four to six lanes, which carries roughly the same price tag as the toll highway. Another would convert existing roads, including Indiana Street, Colorado 72 and 93, and U.S. 6 into “regional arterials” of four to six lanes that would still have traffic signals.
A fourth alternative, which is the one most likely to be approved, would divide the 20-mile corridor into a combination of tolled lanes, regional arterials and lower-speed “principal arterials.” The cost of this option is pegged at $922 million.
Baroch and Golden City Council member Jacob Smith said their city could accept improvements to Colorado 93 and U.S. 6, but only if the speed limit is capped at 45 mph and barriers are constructed to shield residents from road noise.
Joe Jehn, a member of the Colorado Transportation Commission, said the state has no money for non-tolled highway improvements, and one advantage of the combined alternative is that it could be built in phases, with a tolled portion constructed first.
“There is no money to build a ‘free’ road. I’m telling you that point-blank,” Jehn told Golden officials. “If you tell us you’re against a toll road, we have to come up with an alternative.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
