E-470 – The Denver Post Colorado breaking news, sports, business, weather, entertainment. Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:30:29 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cropped-DP_bug_denverpost.jpg?w=32 E-470 – The Denver Post 32 32 111738712 DIA changes course; will consider mass transit as part of Peña Boulevard solution /2026/02/22/dia-pena-expansion-rtd/ Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:00:59 +0000 /?p=7425549 Denver International Airport officials have broadened their approach to dealing with the worsening traffic congestion along Peña Boulevard. Beyond widening the roadway, they’ll consider expanding public transit as an alternative.

It means travelers in the future might be able to rely on better train and bus service to get to DIA. The shift occurred last month as a required federal review began for the project to fix Peña Boulevard, the mostly two-lane freeway linking Denver with the airport and booming northeastern suburbs. Funding remains uncertain for the project, expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

GreenLatinos, Greater Denver Transit, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, and other groups have been challenging highway projects around metro Denver that could worsen air pollution — including DIA’s planned widening of Peña Boulevard. They argue that road expansions provide only a temporary fix and, in the longrun, draw more traffic.

“Are we really going to just keep on widening roads for vehicles?” GreenLatinos director Ean Tafoya said. “Don’t people care about the air emissions?”

Boosting the frequency of Regional Transportation District trains by adding track — initially excluded from DIA’s Peña — combined with construction of bus-only lanes for faster bus access, will now be evaluated as a core alternative, airport planners told the Denver Post.

“Rail expansion and other transit alternatives are under consideration,” DIA project manager Danielle Yearsley said in an emailed response to questions. “A full range of alternatives is being considered through the National Environmental Policy Act review process, including alternatives that the previous Peña Master Plan screened out.”

The NEPA planning process requires careful study of the environmental pros and cons of multiple alternatives to be eligible for federal funding. The would have to approve DIA’s final decision.

Dealing with traffic congestion on Peña has become a headache for air travelers and nearby residents. Vehicle traffic increasingly backs up along the road, which runs 11 miles from Interstate 70 to DIA’s main terminal. The average drive time, once eight minutes, has tripled to 24 minutes. Unpredictable jams and rear-end accidents sometimes hang up drivers for more than half an hour.

During peak travel periods, RTD runs trains along its 23-mile A Line linking Denver Union Station with DIA at “the highest frequency possible” — every 15 minutes, an agency spokeswoman said. The ride costs $10 one-way and takes about 37 minutes with trains reaching speeds of 79 miles per hour. But the frequency decreases to around half an hour in the evenings and early mornings. Buses to and from DIA often run only once an hour.

The A Line commuter trains, powered by overhead electrical lines, typically include two 91-seat cars, and can carry more than 300 passengers, according to RTD’s . That means the A Line theoretically could move 60,000 people a day to and from DIA. But the average daily ridership has decreased from 24,000 in 2019 to about 20,600, agency records show. In August 2025, 650,000 riders boarded the trains, down from 744,000 in August 2019. Meanwhile, Peña Boulevard carries an average of 187,000 vehicles a day, according to airport data.

Denver councilman Kevin Flynn questioned rail expansion as a viable alternative, pointing to excess capacity on the A Line and raising concerns that trains aren’t accessible for some metro residents.

“Transit improvements that serve the whole of the metro area would be a valuable addition to the Peña Boulevard study, and express bus service from points around the vast airport travelshed not served by the A Line would make excellent use of a managed-lanes expansion,” Flynn said. “The unfortunate reality is that expansion of the A Line could never be financed while the trains are still running far below their existing capacity.”

When Denver built the airport and Peña Boulevard around 1993, the FAA provided airport improvement grant funding in 1989 and 1996 to help acquire land. In accepting those funds, Denver agreed to conditions that included following FAA rules for acceptable and prohibited uses of airport revenue.

Then, over three decades, Denver and Aurora promoted residential, commercial, and industrial warehouse development in the area, increasing truck and other traffic on Peña Boulevard, complicating access to the airport.

Denver Mayor Michael Johnston’s administration will “continue to support development around Denver International Airport,” mayoral spokesman Jon Ewing said, adding that “public transit will always be something we explore.”

Given DIA’s role as “the largest economic engine in the region,” Ewing said, “it is paramount that any changes to Peña Boulevard reflect our needs today as well as our needs 50 years from now, and we expect the study currently underway to inform any decisions.”

Passengers board the train at the 61st and Peña Station on the A-Line on Aug. 8, 2023. Adding an additional track to the existing route is one option under consideration to alleviate traffic along Peña Boulevard. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Passengers board the train at the 61st and Peña Station on the A-Line on Aug. 8, 2023. Adding an additional track to the existing route is one option under consideration to alleviate traffic along Peña Boulevard. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

FAA officials this week reiterated their position that their agency “will not fund any portion of the Peña Boulevard project” because “the road is not a dedicated airport access,” agency spokeswoman Crystal Essiaw said.

However, “the FAA agreed the airport can use airport revenue to fund part of the Peña Boulevard expansion project,” Essiaw said.

That portion hasn’t been determined.

A petition from Greater Denver Transit advocates, Green Latinos, the Sierra Club, Denver Bicycle Lobby, and SWEEP proposes the creation of a large parking lot near RTD’s 40th & Airport station, close to the I-70 interchange where Peña Boulevard begins. Airport travelers could take the A Line from the lot for the final stretch to DIA.

Public transit advocates also have called on RTD to establish new bus routes along the E-470 beltway linking Highlands Ranch and Parker with DIA, similar to the that links DIA with Boulder.

“Across the country, itap been demonstrated that widening roads does not resolve traffic congestion over the long term,” Greater Denver Transit co-founder James Flattum said. “If we make the A Line more frequent, we can eliminate that inefficient step for travelers of waiting around in a parking lot for a diesel shuttle, and drivers to the airport can skip Peña traffic congestion,” he said. “We want to make transit competitive with driving for getting to and from the airport.”

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7425549 2026-02-22T06:00:59+00:00 2026-02-24T17:30:29+00:00
Pedestrian takes own life on E-470 in Aurora, state patrol says /2026/01/02/e470-crash-aurora-pedestrian-suicide/ Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:41:35 +0000 /?p=7382599 Northbound E-470 was closed for several hours on Friday after a pedestrian took their own life, officials said.

Colorado State Patrol troopers were called to at 11:42 a.m. for a fatal pedestrian crash, the agency said in a news release.

Troopers investigating the crash found that a 59-year-old man in a Toyota SUV pulled over onto the right shoulder, got out of his car and was standing in front of the SUV when he walked in front of a semitruck that was driving in the right lane.

The man died at the scene, and investigators determined it was a suicide, the state patrol said.

The truck driver, a 49-year-old man, stayed at the scene and was not injured.

All but one lane of northbound E-470 reopened at 2:27 p.m.

Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can call or text 988, 24/7, to reach the , which is free and confidential.

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7382599 2026-01-02T17:41:35+00:00 2026-01-02T17:41:35+00:00
Denver health systems are adding more than $800 million in new hospital floors, clinics /2025/12/31/denver-hospital-construction-advent-uchealth-kaiser/ Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:00:29 +0000 /?p=7349578

The health-care construction clustered in parts of metro Denver that have seen above-average population growth since 2020, and which state demographers project will continue to grow over the next decade.

And hospitals are building with the expectation those areas will continue to grow — three of the new towers going up have floors with no immediate use planned, including one where unfinished space accounts for nearly half of the project.

Hospital systems and reported 13 projects in various stages of construction this year. They only detailed costs for eight, which totaled $824 million. Since the projects without cost information include a hospital tower and extensive work on three outpatient clinics, the actual total likely approaches $1 billion.

Colorado doesn’t have any way of quantifying whether areas need more hospital beds, and health systems generally described their recent projects as bringing specific types of care closer to communities, rather than relieving a crunch on their existing facilities.

That falls in line with how hospitals generally focus on expanding, consultant Allan Baumgarten said: They offer outpatient and emergency services in growing, well-off communities to start building patient loyalty.

“You want to create lots of front doors to your system,” he said.

Douglas County in particular saw a health care building boom: started work on an expansion of its Parker hospital and a new freestanding emergency room in Castle Rock, while built an addition to its Highlands Ranch hospital, Kaiser Permanente expanded its Parker offices and began preliminary work on a campus in Meridian, an unincorporated area near Lone Tree.

Other major projects in the metro area this year included a new tower at Mountain Ridge hospital in Thornton, a cardiology center at AdventHealth Littleton, an urgent care center with primary care offices that UCHealth is opening in Green Valley Ranch and a campus AdventHealth is building in the Aurora Highlands planned community, which its spokeswoman said will eventually grow into a new hospital.

HIGHLANDS RANCH , CO - DECEMBER 2: A new operating room at UCHealth Highlands Ranch on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
A new operating room at UCHealth Highlands Ranch on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

UCHealth’s existing primary care clinic in Green Valley Ranch was already full, and Highlands Ranch Hospital hit its 10-year growth projections within four years, said Merle Taylor, president of the system’s community hospitals in the Denver area, including Highlands Ranch, Broomfield and Longs Peak. The system aims for its Aurora and Highlands Ranch hospitals to run about 85% full, but sometimes they fill every bed during flu season, he said.

“We want to make sure we’re meeting (residents’) needs and their demands in our communities,” he said.

Expansions reflect population growth

The locations where health systems built this year at least partly reflect population trends.

Douglas County had the second-largest increase in population since 2020, adding almost 34,000 residents, according to the . Adams County came in third, with a population increase of about 23,000. Weld County had the largest increase.

The state demographer’s office projected Douglas and Adams counties will remain in the top three for the next decade, with each adding about 69,000 residents by 2035. The office noted in November that Colorado faces challenges as fewer immigrants come and more are deported or choose to leave the country, while migration from other states slows because of high housing costs.

The southern end of the metro area is growing significantly, creating an increase in demand for care, but AdventHealth is looking at opportunities on multiple sides of Denver, spokeswoman Rachel Robinson said.

The emergency room and urgent care center south of downtown Castle Rock won’t replace the hospital on the north side of town, Robinson said. The hospital will handle complex cases, while people who need immediate care for routine injuries and illnesses can save about 15 minutes of driving time, she said.

“It’s simply bringing care closer to where people live,” she said in an email.

Kaiser Permanente estimated the number of patients using the Parker clinic as their primary medical home has increased by about 3,000 since 2020. The system bought a piece of land in Parker back in 2009 to eventually build its own site instead of leasing an office, said Michael Ramseier, president of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. The new Parker offices opened over the summer.

“Obviously, Colorado’s grown significantly, and we want to make sure we’re capturing that proportional growth,” he said.

The system is also replacing outdated buildings in Lakewood and Westminster, while expanding the populations they can serve, Ramseier said. A new clinic and urgent care center is going up next to the existing building in Lakewood, which wasn’t the easiest place to navigate after three expansions over multiple decades, he said. The new Lakewood offices will open in January, but the Westminster project, which will add an urgent care facility and ambulatory surgery center, won’t wrap up until 2028.

“We’ve got a huge population there (in Lakewood), it’s one of our biggest, but it was a 50-year-old property that needed upgrades,” he said.

Health systems built with an eye toward continued growth this year. AdventHealth’s new Parker tower has three floors without an immediate use planned, and UCHealth’s Highlands Ranch tower has two. They likely won’t stay empty for long, though, Taylor said.

“Some time over the next three years, we’re going to need those,” he said.

In HCA HealthOne Mountain Ridge’s expansion, about 17,000 of the 36,000 square feet are “shelled” space that it could build out in the future. Shelled space has outside walls and windows to enclose it, but doesn’t have interior walls or full utilities.

When constructing something like a new tower, which would expand up instead of out, building space you might not immediately need is cheaper than going back and adding floors later, said Ryan Thorton, president and CEO at HCA HealthONE Mountain Ridge.

The estimated demand in the hospital’s service area grew about 12.5% over the last four years, and the hospital needed more beds for general medical and surgical patients, he said.

“With continued growth in service needed in northern Denver, we anticipate the 24 additional beds in 2026 will ensure we have adequate capacity to treat the growing population, but are prepared to expand as necessary,” Thorton said in an email.

Adding services, increasing income

The new construction fits with an overall pattern of health systems around Denver increasing their incomes by adding services to their existing campuses, buying independent hospitals, or building new facilities, said Baumgarten, the consultant.

Growth in freestanding emergency rooms has slowed down after a building boom about a decade ago, but interest in ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care and outpatient offices is picking up, he said. Those facilities tend to be cheaper to run than inpatient hospitals, and patients increasingly choose them, or are nudged by their insurance to do so.

Hospitals tend to choose high-visibility locations near major highways in areas where most people have either job-based insurance or Medicare, Baumgarten said.

Workers continue construction at UCHealth Highlands Ranch on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Workers continue construction at UCHealth Highlands Ranch on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

In many ways, the construction in Douglas County fits that pattern. UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital is close to C-470 and AdventHealth Parker sits near E-470, while the new AdventHealth freestanding emergency room will be just off Interstate 25.

According to the , Douglas County was the wealthiest in the state as of 2023, with a median household income of about $146,000 — meaning half of households earn more and half earn less. Of the nine counties with median incomes over $100,000, Douglas County was the only one to grow by more than 4,000 people since the 2020 census.

“You want to capture as much of that affluent and well-insured population as possible, and you want to be early to get there,” because people tend to develop loyalty to doctors and hospitals, Baumgarten said.

Colorado doesn’t require hospitals to prove that an area needs additional medical facilities, and local zoning boards typically welcome hospitals as a source of high-paying jobs and a way to make their communities more attractive to potential residents, Baumgarten said. Bond market investors could put the brakes on a project if they won’t buy because they’re convinced it won’t generate sufficient returns to repay them, he said.

Baumgarten said he’s skeptical of new construction that isn’t in medically underserved areas, because patients and their insurance have to cover a hospital’s fixed costs, including any bonds that went to build it.

“I’m of the belief that all of this construction has to be paid for,” he said.

Hospitals have to be prepared for growth in their communities so people aren’t left waiting for care while they try to catch up, said Dan Mager, spokesman for the Colorado Hospital Association. Typically, they do a deep analysis of future care needs before investing, he said.

“Standing up new resources for a community is an expensive endeavor with ongoing costs — so it requires thoughtful consideration — and indicates there is a need right now or an expected need in the near future,” Mager said in a statement.

How hositpals decide when to expand

Defining whether an area is underserved can be tricky.

The federal government has designations for areas with shortages of , but not for hospital services. The , which compiles annual reports on hospital finances, doesn’t have a way of measuring demand for hospital services in communities, other than collecting information about what community members identified as important in regular needs assessments hospitals must perform, spokesman Marc Williams said.

In general, policymakers like to see about three general hospital beds for every 1,000 people in an area, but communities with older and sicker residents may need more, said Dr. Richard Leuchter, an assistant professor at .

But when hospitals are deciding whether to expand, they rely on more complex formulas to determine how many beds they need to keep their emergency departments from backing up, he said.

Laypeople can’t easily reproduce those calculations without insider data, and some easier-to-find metrics, such as occupancy rates, don’t tell the full story, Leuchter said. For example, a hospital that performs a large number of outpatient surgeries might show up as 50% full, when the truth is that every bed is full during the day and almost all are empty overnight, he said.

Weldy Feazell, director of economic development for the town of Parker, said she hasn’t heard about residents struggling to get hospital care, though it was probably time for a facility upgrade, since the AdventHealth hospital went up about two decades ago. She has heard some complaints about difficulty finding a primary care doctor, which the Kaiser Permanente expansion will help address, she said.

Parker has added about 7,800 residents since 2020, putting it sixth for growth behind Aurora, Denver, unincorporated Douglas County, Castle Rock and Erie.

As the community has grown, health systems have seen an opportunity to let people get specialized care, such as cancer treatment, without driving to Denver, Feazell said. After all, most people don’t love spending time on Interstate 25, especially if they’re feeling a bit off after a procedure, she said.

“They’re just trying to find ways to bring it closer to home for people,” she said.


Health system construction projects in metro Denver in 2025

AdventHealth

  • : Adding a nearly 24,000-square-foot facility with a new freestanding emergency room and urgent care facility with primary care offices on site, at a cost of $28 million. Opening in fall 2026.
  • : Adding a 186,000-square-foot tower with four operating rooms, 30 general patient beds, 30 beds for cardiac and stroke patients and two heart procedure rooms, at a cost of $300 million. Opening in February 2027.
  • : Added a 143,000-square-foot facility providing heart and stroke care, with spaces for surgeries, less-invasive procedures and cardiac intensive care, at a cost of $150 million. Opened in August.
  • : Building a new campus, starting with an 88,000-square-foot building that includes a freestanding emergency room, an imaging center and 27 exam rooms, at a cost of $81 million. Opening in September 2026.

CommonSpirit Health

  • : 42 acres of land. The system hasn’t released specifics about its plans for the site. Work began in the third quarter of the year.
  • : Added a 133,000-square-foot tower with 30 beds primarily for surgical patients, a cancer center, a 25-bed intensive care unit, 30 beds primarily for cardiac patients and two operating rooms, 18 postpartum beds and 30 general beds. Units opened gradually between August 2024 and December 2025. CommonSpirit didn’t state the cost for the expansion.

Denver Health

  • : Constructing a new 82,500-square-foot building to replace the existing center, with primary care, dentistry, obstetrics, physical therapy and imaging, at a cost of $100 million. Opening in 2027.
  • : Renovating a 14,700-square-foot leased space with 16 exam rooms for older adults to get primary and specialty care, a pharmacy and a lab, at a cost of $9.5 million. Opening in 2026.

HCA HealthOne

  • : Added a 36,000-square-foot tower, with 24 new beds, at a cost of $36.5 million. Opened in August.

Kaiser Permanente

  • : Built a new clinic that is about 7,000 square feet larger than the previous one, with eight new exam rooms and the ability to do more video visits. Opened in July. Kaiser Permanente declined to share the cost of its new construction.
  • : Built a 116,500-square-foot replacement for the existing offices, with primary care, physical therapy, a pharmacy and an urgent care center. Opening in January 2026. Kaiser Permanente declined to share the cost of its new construction.

UCHealth

  • : Added a 12,000-square-foot facility with primary care offices, an urgent care center, physical therapy and imaging. The building already existed, but UCHealth paid to convert it to a health care space, at a cost the system didn’t release. Opened in spring 2025.
  • : Adding a 119,000-square-foot tower and 75,000-square-foot medical office building, with 14 emergency room beds, new operating rooms and labs for cardiac procedures and expansions of the cancer center and neonatal intensive care unit, at a cost of $119 million. Partially opening in February.

Intermountain Health

  • The health network didn’t provide detailed information, but said it expanded its cancer center at Saint Joseph Hospital and leased a space for a new clinic near Empower Field at Mile High.

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7349578 2025-12-31T06:00:29+00:00 2025-12-30T18:37:06+00:00
Broken semitruck closes southbound E-470 exit to I-70 near Aurora /2025/12/13/e470-i70-closed-aurora/ Sat, 13 Dec 2025 16:59:17 +0000 /?p=7365471 Access to Interstate 70 from southbound E-470 near Aurora will be closed for an extended period of time today after a tractor-trailer carrying windmill parts broke down on the highway.

The semi-truck’s trailer was hauling drivetrain components for a windmill that shifted during transport, causing the trailer to break, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

Troopers were called to the scene just before 5 a.m. Saturday near milepost 20.

The southbound E-470 exit for Aurora and I-70, exit 20, is closed as emergency crews work to remove the semi from the road, state patrol officials said.

“Motorists should plan on an alternative route,” the agency said Saturday morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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7365471 2025-12-13T09:59:17+00:00 2025-12-13T09:59:17+00:00
Douglas County pitches Lone Tree as potential site of new Broncos stadium /2025/08/21/broncos-stadium-lone-tree-burnham-yard/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 18:51:50 +0000 /?p=7251257 The smart money may be on Denver’s Burnham Yard if the Broncos build a new stadium — judging by the tens of millions spent to snap up property in its vicinity — but Lone Tree and Douglas County had a message this week: Don’t count us out.

Fresh off a recent meeting with the team, Douglas County’s three commissioners weighed in publicly for the first time to urge the NFL franchise to build a new football stadium in a place that “can deliver like no other.” They added their voices to that of Lone Tree Mayor Marissa Harmon, who is pitching the planned City Center development off Interstate 25 as a perfect site.

In a statement shared exclusively with The Denver Post, amped up local officials’ call for the Broncos to vacate the city where they’ve played for 65 years.

“Douglas County is open for business and proud of our reputation for intentional, strategic partnerships that strengthen our economy without raising taxes, whether thatap welcoming a Fortune 500 enterprise, supporting a local family-owned business or exploring the opportunity to host Colorado’s most iconic team,” the commissioners said.

Relocating to Douglas County, the commissioners wrote, would place the Broncos “just minutes from Dove Valley and Centennial Airport, with unmatched access, infrastructure, and convenience for players, fans, and executives alike.” Dove Valley is where the Broncos’ practice facility is located.

Commissioner Abe Laydon told The Post that he and his two colleagues met recently with team president Damani Leech and other Broncos executives but declined to provide details about the conversation.

Douglas County Commissioner George Teal said the meeting took place on Aug. 6 and lasted “about an hour.” It was the first meeting that all three commissioners have had with the Broncos regarding a new stadium location, he said.

But Douglas County isn’t new on the team’s radar.

For months, the Broncos have acknowledged that, in addition to Burnham Yard in west-central Denver, they are also considering Lone Tree, a suburban city of 15,000 in northern Douglas County, as a potential stadium site if they decide to leave Empower Field at Mile High. The team’s lease at Empower Field expires in early 2031.

The team has also said it is looking at Aurora for a new home.

The team, , has played in two stadiums — each bearing the Mile High moniker — just west of downtown Denver since 1960.

Despite the entreaties from suburban locales to build a stadium outside Colorado’s capital city, most reporting this summer has pointed to evidence that the Broncos are most strongly exploring a site that would keep them in Denver. Recent media reports say the team and its owners are connected — through a series of limited liability corporations and lawyers — to more than $150 million spent over the last year to purchase more than a dozen parcels of land near Burnham Yard. The state-owned, 58-acre former railyard is in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Several structures have been demolished recently at the abandoned Burnham Yard in Denver, as seen on July 28, 2025. Nearby Empower Field is visible in the background. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Empower Field at Mile High is visible in the background behind a Denver Water building and the Burnham Yard site in Denver on July 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

But that hasn’t quelled interest from surrounding communities to be the franchise’s next home. This week, Harmon described the city’s talks with the team as “exploratory and constructive” in a statement by 9News.

She highlighted , a planned development at the southeast corner of I-25 and Lincoln Avenue, as “metro Denver’s next large-scale vibrant downtown.” The 440-acre site, the mayor said, aligns with the Broncos’ vision of “an activated, year‑round destination integrated with transit, walkable streets, and first‑class mobility.”

Lone Tree sits near the confluence of three major highways — I-25, C-470 and E-470 — and is at the terminus of the Regional Transportation District’s southeast light rail lines.

But “no formal proposals have been submitted, and no decisions or commitments have been made,” Harmon said.

Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth told The Post that the team has had “several productive conversations” with Lone Tree officials while also “engaging with” Douglas County commissioners.

A source with direct knowledge of the talks said the Broncos have been in communication with Lone Tree and Douglas County officials more recently and frequently than officials from the Aurora Economic Development Council. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said this week there’s been “nothing new” regarding talks between the city and the team.

“We appreciate these ongoing discussions and continue to carefully evaluate all options pertaining to the future of our stadium,” Smyth said.

In Lone Tree, most of the City Center site — north of RidgeGate Parkway — is owned by the Coventry Development Corp., the city says. It’s part of that spans both sides of the interstate.

An email obtained by The Post through a public records request confirmed that Broncos general counsel Tim Aragon met with Lone Tree city officials as early as January 2024. In an email sent after that meeting, Aragon asked executives at Coventry about site-specific environmental reports, which they didn’t have.

Aragon also asked about Federal Aviation Administration height restrictions that might apply because of the proximity to Centennial Airport.

“We are trying to understand the soil and any issues especially in the circumstance where we might have to dig a bit to fit within height restrictions,” Aragon wrote.

More than 18 months after that outreach, Douglas County commissioners slathered some complimentary and self-congratulatory frosting on this week’s invitation to the three-time Super Bowl champions to make their next home 20 miles south of Empower Field at Mile High.

“The Broncos deserve the very best, and in Douglas County, thatap exactly what they will find,” they said.


Staff writer Parker Gabriel contributed to this story.

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7251257 2025-08-21T12:51:50+00:00 2025-08-22T08:20:26+00:00
Aurora car theft suspect leads police on two chases before crashing /2025/08/15/aurora-car-theft-chase/ Fri, 15 Aug 2025 20:08:45 +0000 /?p=7247200 An attempt to stop the driver of an allegedly stolen vehicle in Aurora lead to two crashes, a foot chase and a carjacking Friday morning.

Officers attempted to stop the driver of a vehicle near Hoffman Boulevard and Potomac Street about 9:30 a.m. Friday, said Gabby Easterwood, public information officer for the Aurora Police Department. The suspect took off, leading to a chase and a rollover crash involving the vehicle near the junction of E-470 and Interstate 70, she said.

The passenger in the vehicle was transported to a hospital then to jail, Easterwood said. The driver fled on foot and unsuccessfully attempted to carjack another vehicle about 9:45 a.m., she said.

He then stole a Kia and led police on another chase, which ended with a crash near East 40th Avenue and Tower Road about 10 a.m., Easterwood said. The crash involved multiple vehicles and briefly closed the northbound lanes of Tower Road. But the suspect was the only person injured in those crashes. He remained hospitalized Friday, although police hadn’t received an update on his condition, she said.

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7247200 2025-08-15T14:08:45+00:00 2025-08-15T18:44:23+00:00
Northbound E-470 reopens after crash near Brighton /2025/07/25/e470-closed-crash-brighton/ Fri, 25 Jul 2025 18:09:41 +0000 /?p=7227652 One person was injured and northbound near Brighton for two hours Friday after a box truck crashed and rolled over.

The highway shut down just before 11 a.m. after the single-vehicle crash, E-470 officials said on social media.

The driver was taken to the hospital with non-critical injuries, spokesperson Shelby Costello said.

One lane of the northbound highway reopened as of 12:48 p.m.

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7227652 2025-07-25T12:09:41+00:00 2025-07-25T13:17:44+00:00
Aurora police call in feds to help with search for missing girl /2025/06/23/aurora-missing-girl-14-feds/ Mon, 23 Jun 2025 23:16:39 +0000 /?p=7198180 Update June 25, 2025: An Aurora teen who went missing on June 15 was found safe in Las Vegas, police officials said Wednesday.

A 26-year-old man who police say was involved with her disappearance was arrested and the investigation is ongoing, according to the Aurora Police Department.

Original story: Aurora police are seeking help from federal agencies in the search for a missing 14-year-old girl, police said Monday.

The girl has been missing since June 15 and was last seen in southeast Aurora. Police have enlisted the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to help with the search, and have put out a national advisory with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Her family is offering a $5,000 reward for information that brings her home, according to the police department.

She was last seen around 8:45 p.m. on June 15 near E-470 and Gartrell Road.

Updated at 11:50 a.m., June 24, 2025: This story was updated to reflect a correction issued by law enforcement to their description of the missing teenager.

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7198180 2025-06-23T17:16:39+00:00 2025-06-26T15:29:02+00:00
Aurora girl missing from southeast metro found safe in Las Vegas /2025/06/21/aurora-girl-gartrell-e470-missing-person/ Sat, 21 Jun 2025 17:09:44 +0000 /?p=7196682 Update June 25, 2025: An Aurora teen who went missing on June 15 was found safe in Las Vegas, police officials said Wednesday.

A 26-year-old man who police say was involved with her disappearance was arrested and the investigation is ongoing, according to the Aurora Police Department.

Original story: A 14-year-old girl missing since Sunday was last seen in southeast Aurora, according to police.

Updated at 11:50 a.m., June 24, 2025: This story was updated to reflect a correction issued by law enforcement to their description of the missing teenager.

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Stolen car crashes into building at Centennial Airport after police chase /2025/05/08/centennial-airport-car-crash-police-chase/ Thu, 08 May 2025 14:09:19 +0000 /?p=7131955 Three people were arrested Wednesday night after a police chase ended with a stolen car crashing into a building at Centennial Airport, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The agency received an alert at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday when an automatic license plate reader spotted a stolen car from another county, sheriff’s officials said in an email to The Denver Post.

Deputies found the car driving on northbound Interstate 25 near Castle Pines, according to the sheriff’s office.

They tried to pull the driver over, but they sped away down I-25 and onto eastbound E-470, sheriff’s officials said. Deputies pursued the car and followed as the driver exited the highway at South Peoria Street and turned into the Centennial Airport.

Sheriff’s officials said the suspect car “failed to navigate a turn” at the end of the road and crashed into 8082 Interport Boulevard — a building that’s part offices and part airplane hangar.

The driver, a Denver resident, was arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle theft, eluding and reckless driving, according to the sheriff’s office. One passenger was arrested on an outstanding warrant and another was issued a summons for possession of drug paraphernalia.

South Metro Fire and Colorado State Patrol also responded to the crash.

Information on the damage done to the airport building was not available Thursday morning, but sheriff’s officials said an inspector was on scene.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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