THORNTON — A new E-470 entrance and exit ramp in Thornton opened six months ahead of schedule on Monday, and it’s free for all toll road customers until Jan. 1.
The Quebec Street interchange is just south of Colorado 7 on Quebec Street. After the New Year, rates to use the interchange will be $1.15 for ExpressToll customers and $1.45 for everyone else.
“The trial period will give toll road customers an opportunity to try the new interchange toll-free and, at the same time, provide E-470 staff a sufficient period to test the electronic tolling equipment,” said Dick McLean. E-470 board chair and Brighton mayor.
Construction on the $5-million, toll-funded project began last spring and was slated for completion at the end of May 2015. The authority’s executive director, John McCuskey, said the interchange has been targeted as the No. 1 expansion point for E-470 for several years.
A traffic study that the E-470 Public Highway Authority did predicts that about 3,500 cars will use the Quebec Street interchange every day in 2015.
“Adams County (is forecasted) to be the fastest-growing county in Colorado for the next 20 years,” said Chaz Tedesco, Adams County Commissioner and E-470 board secretary-treasurer. “This new interchange provides an additional transportation capacity that we will need to accommodate the population growth.”
As part of the project, the City of Thornton and Lennar, a developer currently building homes along the new Quebec interchange, agreed to from 124th Avenue to Colorado 7. Quebec was previously a two-lane gravel road.
“Quebec Street improvements were definitely sparked by this interchange,” said Heidi Williams, Thornton mayor and E-470 vice-chair. “It will certainly be easier for (residents) to be travelling back and forth to places like Walmart on the south end of the ramp, to Larkridge Shopping Center, to Brighton and unincorporated Adams County.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
