I am typically pretty focused in my transit advocacy, as an RTD Board Director, on influencing RTD policy.   However, when the actions of outside agencies threaten our transit goals, I feel it is my duty to speak-out.  Such is the case with respect to current maneuvers to complete the Denver metro beltway.

Specifically, proponents of the beltway are asking the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) to add a significant roadway link to the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the Jefferson Parkway.  Getting the Jefferson Parkway in the RTP is the green light the project needs to begin moving toward implementation.  This includes securing the necessary financial support for what is designed to be a privately funded toll road.

You can learn more about the Jefferson Parkway proposal, including the many concerns communities like Golden and Boulder are raising, at the following links:  http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/12/jefferson_parkway_a_weird_disc.php and http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13895972.  It was many of these same concerns that drove me to testify at the DRCOG public hearing regarding this matter.  Most troubling to me, the Jefferson Parkway will create the need for about $1 billion in additional roadway improvements, beyond what the private sector is offering to handle.   These are unfunded transportation needs that will compete with other critical projects, such as the HOV lanes for US 36 that are the foundation of bus-rapid-transit service between Boulder and Denver.

You can read my public hearing testimony at the following link:  Jefferson Parkway Comments.  The DROCG Board will issue a final decision regarding the proposal to add the Jefferson Parkway to the RTP at its meeting in January.  I am hopeful that they will send the beltway proponents back to the drawing board.