The Colorado Department of Transportation received more than 900 comments about its $1.8 billion plan to add tolls to Interstate 70 in northeast Denver and run a portion of the highway below grade.
The comments were recorded as part of an environmental study of the project over a 45-day period that ended on Oct. 31.
On Thursday, CDOT officials made all comments available on , its project website. That move is unprecedented, said CDOT executive director Don Hunt.
“Because of the intense interest this project has received,” Hunt said, “we are making public all the comments we have received so everyone can review them.”
A majority of comments came from around the metro area, with 125 from neighborhoods most directly affected by the project. A shows where comments originated. The website does not include responses to the comments, which will be included in the final Environmental Impact Statement in late 2015.
between Brighton and Colorado boulevards, lower the highway below grade, add two express lanes with tolls in each direction between I-25 and Tower Road, and build an almost 4-acre landscaped cover over the interstate by Swansea Elementary School.
CDOT says community leaders helped develop the alternative during a decade-long public process.
Critics — including Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher — as unworkable. They say the widening of the highway would destroy local neighborhoods and lead to environmental disaster.
CDOT says it’s not unusual that a project this size — considered the biggest highway plan in the state’s history — would attract such controversy.
Comments were gathered in three public hearings in Aurora, Commerce City and Denver, which drew 250 participants. Comments also were submitted via mail, e-mail, the project website and the project office.
