Centerra district pledges $6M for I-25 improvements

LOVELAND — The Centerra Metropolitan District has joined Weld County, the town of Windsor and other governmental entities to pledge money to support improvements along Interstate 25 in Northern Colorado.

The district board on April 14 approved a resolution to contribute $6 million to the local matching fund in support of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s improvement project. The money, which CDOT will use as cash to match federal highway grants, will come from tax-increment financing as part of the public/private partnership agreement between the city of Loveland, the Loveland Urban Renewal Authority, the Centerra district and Centerra developer McWhinney. Funds are generated in the URA through property taxes and sales-tax fees that are collected at Centerra, the retail development located at the I-25 interchange at U.S. Highway 34.

“We are thrilled to be in a position to partner and contribute at a local and regional level,” said Kim Perry, Centerra Metropolitan District president, in a prepared statement.  “These funds will provide enhanced multi-modal transportation options and safe connections within the city of Loveland, Centerra and Larimer County.”

The combined local, state and federal improvement funds will help repair and replace several bridges along I-25 and support the Kendall Parkway underpass initiative, which includes a planned Bus Rapid Transit stop.

In April, Weld County commissioners and the Loveland City Council voted to commit $2 million each, and the town of Windsor pledged $1 million to help fund a $230 million project to add an additional lane on I-25 between Colorado Highway 402 in Johnstown — the exit south of Centerra — and Colorado Highway 14, the Mulberry Street exit east of Fort Collins. That money will be put toward the local match needed for a grant for which CDOT and the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization applied to help fund the widening project. The cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and Johnstown also are involved in the collaboration. The deadline for that grant application was April 28, and officials say they’re likely to learn if they’ve won it by September.

The $25 million Transportation Investment-Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant would pay for Phase 1 implementation of the North I-25 environmental impact statement, which includes construction of the additional lane. Improvements also would include replacement of a bridge over the Cache la Poudre River to accommodate the Poudre River Trail, replacement of a Union Pacific Bridge south of Crossroads Boulevard and widening of all other structures needed to accommodate a third lane.

In addition, North Front Range has applied for a Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grant.

According to CDOT projections, Weld County’s population is expected to increase to 567,000 and Larimer’s to 481,000 by 2040, adding up to a total that is double what the population of the two counties was in 2012.

As a short-term solution, CDOT has said, the additional lane would likely be tolled similar to the recently completed project on U.S. Highway 36 between Boulder and Denver.

Meanwhile, work is to begin soon on the overpass at Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland, the exit just north of the Centerra exit, as well as a climbing lane along the interstate on a hill near Berthoud.

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