The Colorado Department of Transportation said Monday that it will halt the Northwest Corridor environmental study that has been examining highway options in the northwest quadrant of metro Denver between U.S. 36 and C-470.
CDOT said it has spent $13.7 million since October 2003 on the corridor study, but there is “no funding identified to build a preferred alternative in the foreseeable future.”
Also, “a lack of consensus among local governments and citizen groups made it difficult to move forward in determining what transportation improvements might be needed.”
Officials and residents in Golden have been particularly vocal in opposing attempts to complete the beltway around metro Denver through their community.
Early findings of the Northwest Corridor study suggested that finishing the beltway through the area might be preferred, including construction of a toll highway for a part of the route.
In a statement Monday, Golden praised the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter for ending the study. Instead of completing the beltway, Golden said, the decision backs an earlier review “which said the best way to handle traffic in the northwest corridor was to improve arterial roads.”
Officials of Jefferson County, Arvada and Broomfield recently formed a public highway authority to explore ways of privately financing a final beltway link in the northwest quadrant.
In ending the Northwest Corridor study, CDOT said it “will provide data, be cooperative and offer assistance to the local governments who may wish to pursue transportation improvements in the area, but it’s up to them to solve their regional political conflict.”
Golden, in its statement, said, “If CDOT could not find a way to make tolls cover the cost of the beltway, there’s no reason to believe a Public Highway Authority will be able to either.”
