Because it’s the biggest transportation corridor, and arguably the biggest problem, I-25 gets a lot of attention.
However, it’s not the only problem. The north-south, east-west roads in the region are also critical to our mobility. In that regard, a conversation is underway in Larimer County about those roads.
In April an exploratory meeting was held with various stakeholders to begin exploring the issue and determine if there was interest in working on it together. The answer was ‘we have a problem and yes let’s consider options.’
Two groups have been convened. One is the Regional Task Force, of which I am a member. This group represents stakeholders from around the county. The other group is the Technical Advisory Committee and is made up of the transportation staffs of the towns and counties in Larimer County and other transportation professionals.
Work is only just beginning, but here are some of the early observations:
- There is a list of over 40 road projects in Larimer County that will cost $560M to improve or build. The list is still be created and refined so count on those numbers changing.
- Preliminary goals include: agree upon high priority regional transportation infrastructure projects within Larimer County; Reach a consensus recommendation on strategies to fund the high priority transportation projects; and attain public support for increasing funding of transportation infrastructure in Larimer County.
As noted, this is a nascent effort, but one long overdue. Tackling the widening of North I-25 needs to remain the top transportation project, but clearly it is not the only one.