Silverthorne – Like many mountain residents, Maggie Damour plans her trips to Denver around the predictable traffic jams on Interstate 70.
“If I have a choice, I go off-hours or I don’t go,” the Silverthorne resident said. “If you have to go during traffic, you just sit there.”
A study released Wednesday puts a price tag on the chronic congestion along the mountain corridor that carves into business, tourism and quality of life: $839 million annually.
“We all think of it as a personal issue, in terms of stress to our lives, but we really need to think of it as having some real dollar impact on this state and its residents,” said Patty Silverstein, president of Development Research Partners, which conducted the study on behalf of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Traffic delays deter tourists from traveling to the state, cost time and create aggravation among residents in the corridor, and whittle away business efficiency, the study found.
Among its primary findings:
“The magnitude was a little larger than I thought,” said Flo Raitano, executive director of the I-70 Coalition, an organization of civic and business officials seeking solutions to the increasing traffic snarls. “What that says to me is that the investment (in transportation improvements) pays for itself.”
With population growth, the problem is only expected to worsen. By 2025, traffic is expected to increase by about 45 percent, and the state estimates that more than a fourth of motorists will begin avoiding the highway in wintertime.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has been considering 18 alternatives for major improvements to I-70 and is expected to release its final recommendations this year, but any fixes are expected to cost billions.
Joe Blake, chief executive and president of the Denver Metro Chamber, said congestion in the mountains clearly affects the metro area.
“What this report does,” he said, “is say these are the consequences of failing to act in a timely fashion and the clock is ticking.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
