County Road 5 may soon spell relief for mounting I-25 traffic

Imagine a day when getting from Johnstown — Colorado Highway 402 — to Fort Collins — Colorado Highway 14 — doesn’t mean a treacherous, high-speed trip on Interstate 25.

Imagine, then, traveling that 12 or so miles at a comfortable speed with the occasional traffic signal here and there.

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Imagine no more. Work is under way that would make all of the above possible. For now, however, you’ll have to settle for part of a road here, most of it there.

Larimer County Road 5, soon to be known variously as Centerra Parkway Boulevard at Centerra, North Fairgrounds Boulevard near the Budweiser Events Center, and possibly Thompson Crossing in the mixed-use development 2534 south of U.S. Highway 34, is now in alternate stages of planning, designing and even construction.

Still, it could be anywhere from three to 10 years before motorists will actually be able to travel the entire stretch of roadway without detours, said Dave Klockeman, Loveland city engineer,

Alternative north-south arterials on both sides of the interstate are part of the I-25 Corridor Plan, on which municipalities up and down the interstate have collaborated. The east side arterial — County Road 5 — is the first to make it off paper and into concrete and asphalt. The west side will take more time, said Nick Christensen, managing partner with Chrisland Inc., which is marketing the 2534 project.

The west side is moving more slowly due to major geographic obstacles such as Fossil Lake and the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport.

Various segments of County Road 5 are in place between Prospect Road in Fort Collins and Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland. The road is paved between Prospect and Harmony Road, and again from Colorado Highway 392 to Crossroads.

Larimer County is drafting a redesign of the intersection of County Road 5 and Harmony Road just south of Timnath, said Frank Lancaster, the county manager. The new look could see the elimination of the existing “Y” in the road and a better alignment as it crosses Harmony, or County Road 74. A traffic signal may even be deemed necessary.

One of the largest new pieces to County Road 5 is under construction in Loveland.

Crews are building an intersection and six-lane street where County Road 5 meets the north side of U.S. Highway 34.

The intersection for the future Centerra Parkway Boulevard is budgeted at $1.3 million and the six-lane road at $3.7 million, Klockeman said. Funds will come from the new Centerra Metropolitan District.

This first phase will accommodate the opening of The Shops at Centerra, an upscale lifestyle shopping mall under construction by Poag & McEwan. Tenants will include Metrolux Theaters, Barnes & Noble, and Coldwater Creek, among many others, all expected to draw shoppers from throughout the region.

“This is huge,´ said Rich Shannon, vice president of community development for McWhinney Enterprises. “If you’re on U.S. 34 facing east, you’ll see a triple left going north onto Centerra Parkway. There will be lots of folks wanting to come shop there.”

North of The Shops, the parkway becomes a four-lane roadway. The entire stretch, Shannon said, will have a median and bike paths.

Phase two of the roadway, which is planned for the future, will require boring under the railroad. The McWhinneys are seeking approval from both the railroad and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to make the project possible. Shannon said it would be at least an 18-month process to get approval from both entities.

The ensuing piece of County Road 5 will be from the railroad underpass to Crossroads Boulevard. Preliminary plans for this stretch are in the design phase. “We do not have a specific timeframe for when that piece will be connected,” he said.

Eventually Shannon said, County Road 5 would connect with Centerra on the west via a proposed I-25 underpass located “a little south of where the railroad crosses I-25 and just north of the dog track.”

In the meantime, County Road 5 will also extend southward into the mixed-use 2534 development. Because of topography — the landscape includes the Little Thompson River — the road will require a sharp turn to the west before connecting with the frontage road and Colorado Highway 402. Again, the developers of the new mixed-use development will cover construction costs.

Christensen said the road should be under way in spring, “and we’ll be driving on it soon after that.”

So far, little opposition has been voiced about the new and expanded road. “Most of the landowners and existing businesses see this as an alternate way to not get on I-25 and have more of a pleasant driving experience,” Christensen said.

One landowner is Martin Lind — he is developing Eagle Crossing, a 60-acre project along Crossroads Boulevard. Lind believes the road can’t be in place fast enough. “County Road 5 is a very important arterial that needs to be connected to U.S. 34 as soon as possible,” he said. And speaking as a Northern Colorado resident, Lind said, the new arterial will serve as an important route for those wanting to avoid traffic delays and congestion when improvements to the U.S. 34/I-25 interchange begin.

“This needs to be moved up from, ‘We’ll get to it’ to, ‘This has to be done right now.’”

Lind said County Road 5 has always been labeled as a major north-south arterial and that 90 percent of the roadway is buttressed by commercial and industrial, so residential owners will experience minimal impact.

Craig Harrison, who owns a 200-acre ranch adjacent to County Road 5, just south of Timnath, said the new arterial is tailor-made for him. “I’m a prime example of a person who would prefer using that road than the interstate,” he said. And use it he does, traveling south to Crossroads Boulevard, where he crosses over to McWhinney Boulevard on the west side of I-25, where his office is located.

But Harrison concedes that his stretch of County Road 5, though recently paved and busier than when it was gravel, will most likely retain its rural character. Across the street, gravel mining is under way. That means the land will convert to lakes, making it part of the separator between Windsor and Fort Collins. Furthermore, Harrison is working on a conservation easement. It’s also the missing piece in connecting the Poudre River Trail from Windsor to Fort Collins.

“I’m never one to wish things stay the way they are,” Harrison said. “I’m a realist. I’m looking forward to the day when I can get from the ranch to the lifestyle center.”