Editorial: U.S. 36 expansion should drive I-25 discussion

It’s progress. We’re pleased to see, after three years of construction, completion of the first phase of the U.S. Highway 36 expansion. The first phase of the U.S. 36 Express Lanes Project added an express lane in each direction of the highway for bus rapid transit, high-occupancy vehicles and tolled vehicles, among other improvements, between 88th Street in Louisville and Federal Boulevard, an 11-mile stretch. The initial phase cost $317 million.

Phase I opened to traffic in May, and tolls will be collected beginning July 22. Individuals with an electronic pass will pay $7.60 to travel between Interlocken and Federal Boulevard during peak times. That climbs to $13.68 for the same stretch for those without a pass.

What’s next for the project, which will cost $497 million in total? The second phase will take the expansion from Louisville to Table Mesa Drive/Foothills Parkway in Boulder, a distance of eight miles. Once that’s complete, the Regional Transportation District will initiate bus rapid transit – dubbed the Flatiron Flyer – to carry passengers between Denver and Boulder.

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Bus rapid transit represents a consolation prize for Boulder, Louisville, Broomfield and other communities that have yet to see benefit from the FasTracks program for commuter rail. RTD is unable to complete commuter rail into Boulder County for budgetary reasons, perhaps for decades, and bus rapid transit is envisioned to move more people, faster and at much lower cost.

The project was expedited by a public-private partnership, with Plenary Roads Denver managing the corridor. The project was assembled by the Colorado Department of Transportation, RTD, the Colorado High-Performance Transportation Enterprise, 36 Commuting Solutions and the U.S. 36 Mayors and Commissioners Coalition.

We strongly support the concept of public-private partnerships for transportation projects. And we have to wonder whether such an option might be possible for the increasingly congested Interstate 25 corridor in Northern Colorado.

A proposal in the Colorado General Assembly earlier this year failed to pass muster, securing approval from the state Senate but not making it out of a House committee. The legislation would have asked voters to approve issue $3.5 billion in bonds for 25 transportation projects across the state, including the north I-25 project.

Despite that failure, seeing progress on the U.S. 36 corridor gives us hope. It wasn’t that long ago that I-25 – just four lanes north of Colorado Highway 66 – backed up only when an accident occurred. Nowadays, backups occur daily and often stretch for miles in either direction. Something must be done.

The 26 miles between Colorado 66 at Longmont and Colorado 14 at Fort Collins carries 45,000 vehicles daily and serves more than 895,000 residents of Larimer, Weld and Boulder counties, according to the Fix North I-25 Business Alliance. Widening the highway to three lanes in either direction is estimated to cost $965 million, with funding as presently envisioned unavailable until 2070.

It’s a tall order, but an essential one. If the proposal floated in the Legislature in earlier this year wasn’t attractive to lawmakers, what is the solution? We’re confident that one will be found. Perhaps the type of public-private partnership displayed on U.S. 36 can inform the debate around I-25.