Backers of the proposed Jefferson Parkway moved a step closer this week to realizing their goal of constructing the 10-mile toll road when the highway authority’s board voted to acquire a sliver of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge for the toll road’s right of way.
The parkway, which would run from a point on Colorado 128 near Jefferson County’s airport to Colorado 93 north of Golden, has been promoted by some as part of the effort to complete a beltway around the metro area.
Currently, there is a gap in that beltway from the western terminus of the Northwest Parkway toll road to the junction of C-470 and U.S. 6.
The Jefferson Parkway would not finish the circle, but backers say it would offer an alternative for many motorists traveling through the metro area’s northwest quadrant.
$28,000 an acre
Jefferson Parkway directors, who represent Arvada, Broomfield and Jefferson County, agreed to buy a roughly 3.5-mile-long and 300-foot-wide sliver of the refuge — about 100 acres — for $28,000 an acre, a total of $2.8 million.
“It’s been a long time in coming to this point,” Jefferson County Commissioner and parkway board chairman Kevin McCasky said after the pivotal vote to acquire the federal land.
McCasky, who has been a strong proponent of completing the beltway, is giving up his commissioner’s post and position as parkway board chairman to become president of the Jefferson Economic Council.
Acquisition of the wildlife-refuge land is expected to provide the impetus for the Jefferson Parkway to seek a private partner to finance, build and most likely operate the $204 million toll highway.
McCasky said the parkway authority is open to receiving an unsolicited bid from a private consortium interested in taking on the tollway project and that the authority would consider establishing a “sole-source” agreement with such a private group.
One possible bidder could be Brisa, the Portuguese toll-road firm that agreed in 2007 to lease the Northwest Parkway toll road for 99 years in a deal valued at about $603 million.
That amount included a total of $100 million that Brisa could end up contributing, if certain conditions are met, to link the Northwest Parkway on the north side of U.S. 36 with the northernmost end of the Jefferson Parkway at Colorado 128, if the new toll road is constructed.
Pedro Costa, executive director of Brisa’s unit that leases and operates the Northwest Parkway, said it is too early for him to say whether his company will be part of an effort to construct the Jefferson Parkway.
Plans to build the Jefferson Parkway have been controversial, and government officials and many residents in Golden and Boulder County have fought the toll-road proposal for years.
Lately however, Jefferson County officials have been in discussions with counterparts in Golden, Boulder and Boulder County to craft deals that could help eliminate some of the opposition.
In one, Jeffco has offered to spend $5 million as part of a joint effort to acquire a section of land adjacent to the wildlife refuge along Colorado 93 and preserve it for open space. For that deal to be completed, it likely will need financial contributions from Boulder and Boulder County as well.
Bridge over U.S. 6
Jeffco also is working on forging an agreement with Golden to contribute several million dollars toward preparing engineering studies for key highway improvements to the Colorado 93 and U.S. 6 corridors through Golden.
Specifically, Golden is aiming for construction of a bridge to take 19th Street in the city over U.S. 6, and it wants Colorado 93 to be shifted to the west at Golden’s north end, so traffic will have less of an impact on nearby residential neighborhoods.
A goal of Golden’s proposed deal with the county, City Manager Mike Bestor said, is to preserve Colorado 93 and U.S. 6 through the city as four-lane roads with 45-mph speed limits and to forestall an extension of the Jefferson Parkway into Golden with more lanes and a higher speed limit.
Golden is holding a series of public meetings beginning Monday on its proposed deal with the county. For details, go to the city’s website for the project, .
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
