Post Premium: Our best stories for the week of Sept. 23-29

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Road construction is as certain as death and taxes.

Even as drivers maneuver past orange barrels on Interstate 25 south of Castle Rock and up toward Fort Collins, CDOT officials are starting to plan another big I-25 project. And this one will be right in the heart of Denver, along a five-mile stretch from Alameda Avenue to 20th Street that sees a quarter of a million vehicles a day (including mine).

But Denver Post reporter Jon Murray, who writes about the big issues and projects in state transportation, found something a little different about this project: Early planning isn’t focusing just on the most efficient way to move cars through Denver but also leaving room for future passenger rail expansion and improving the safety of roads near the highway.

— , Denver Post Politics Editor

CDOT sets its sights on I-25 in central Denver for major construction

Morning rush hour traffic on I-25 ... — Andy Cross, The Denver Post
Morning rush-hour traffic moves along on Interstate 25 near Speer Boulevard and West 23rd Avenue on Sept. 25, 2019.

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Five of The Denver Post’s best stories this week

Lakewood puts an end to RV parking, shutting down makeshift solution to homelessness

At left: Joe Kniss, who goes ... — Joe Amon, The Denver Post
At left: Joe Kniss, who goes by Joe Scrapper, makes a living collecting scrap metal. He lives in a Winnebago Itasca in Lakewood, pictured on Sept. 24, 2019, and is worried about being kicked out of the area following a decision by the city to ban RVs from parking on municipal roads. At right: Joe Kniss shares his dinner with Joe Bucci, a man that was walking by and knew him from the streets, inside Kniss' RV in Lakewood on Sept. 24, 2019. Kniss invited Bucci into the Winnebago Itasca, where Kniss been living in Lakewood.

Lakewood City Council unanimously passed a measure this week barring people from parking RVs or travel trailers on public streets anywhere in Lakewood, a restriction that had previously applied only to residential areas.

Lakewood’s situation echoes what has happened in several California cities, where sky-high housing prices have led thousands to turn RVs into homes and city streets into temporary residential lots. Read more from John Aguilar.

Lockheed Martin wins NASA contract for Orion program, which will send first woman to the moon

Technicians working on the Orion Structural ... — Joe Amon, The Denver Post
Technicians working on the Orion Structural Test Article Crew Module at the Lockheed Martin Space Waterton Facility in Littleton on April 16, 2018.

Littleton-based Lockheed Martin will play a part in sending the first woman to the moon.

NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems announced a contract earlier this week that will produce and operate six Orion spacecraft missions, a program the space agency calls the “backbone” of its plans for deep-space exploration. Read more from Judith Kohler.

With nearly two dozen”shortline” railroads across the country, Denver’s OmniTRAX has quickly become a major player

OMLX 3144 an SD40, 6-axle road ... — Joe Amon, The Denver Post
A SD40, 6-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive with OmniTRAX heads into the location of a new spur that will provide direct service to Intersand America Corp. in the Great Western Industrial Park in Windsor on Sept. 17, 2019.

Over the past five years, OmniTRAX’s operating earnings have grown at a compounded rate of more than 20% a year. That��ap several-fold faster than the big freight railroads it connects with and even faster than what Google has achieved.

So how is Denver’s emerging player in a 190-year-old industry outpacing a leader of the digital economy? Read more from Aldo Svaldi.

Piqued by Trump, Colorado Democrats make a play for religious voters

Andy Cross, Denver Post file
Colorado State Senator Morgan Carroll at the 4th annual Taste of Ethiopia festival at Parkfield Lake Park August 06, 2016. Carroll is challenging Mike Coffman for U.S. Congress.

Colorado Democrats want to close the “God gap.”

It��ap the theory in political science that calling yourself religious and regularly attending services are strong predictors of your political party affiliation, and for the past three decades those voters have largely called themselves Republicans. Read more from Anna Staver.

Denver Post listening tour: Grand Junction is looking outdoors for its future

A view from the Grand Mesa ... — RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
A view from the Grand Mesa on Sept. 23, 2019 near Grand Junction. Much of the area surrounding Grand Junction is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. BLM is looking to move its headquarters to Grand Junction.

Two Denver Post reporters and a photographer visited the commercial hub of the Western Slope to talk with residents and local leaders about the issues that matter to them. It was part of The Post��ap listening tour, an undertaking to connect with Coloradans during the break between elections and legislative sessions. Read more from Justin Wingerter and Judith Kohler.

Past listening tour stops:

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