Tuesday, March 15, 2005

CDOT I-25 Alternate Thoughts

A difference of opinion on the necessity to widen I-25 through Pueblo.

Nice article in the Pueblo Chieftain today; thanks to James Amos. It announces that CDOT has begun its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) development for the effort to widen I-25 through Pueblo.

The part I tend to disagree with is towards the end where Dave Miller, the project chief at CDOT, says….

The proposed Super Slab toll road won’t affect the I-25 project, Miller said. That project would be privately funded and operated, offering a limited-access expressway east of I-25 between Pueblo and Fort Collins.

An estimated 75 percent of the traffic on I-25 in Pueblo are local motorists, Miller said, so the slab won’t change the need to widen I-25.

Seventy-five percent of the vehicles travelling on I-25 could well be local motorists. However, I don’t think they’re all driving 18-wheelers. At least I don’t see that many on neighborhood streets. Lots of diesel-fueled full-sized pick-ups. But not 5-ton diesel tractors. Let alone those massive trailers.

If we talk about ‘footprint’, an 18-wheeler takes up a LOT more space than does a pick-up truck. Let alone a standard passenger car. If a lot of that 18-wheeler traffic moves to the proposed Super-Slab, then that is going to have a rather ‘signficiant’ impact on the amount of traffic flowing through Pueblo. There will be more room for the four-wheel variety. Not to mention less noise from some fool trucker jack-braking as he approaches the curve.

But we might want to think ahead on how much interstate highway we might need in the longer run.

Mr. Miller goes on to say…

“We would still need the three lanes in each directions to accommodate future traffic,” he said.

I agree. I’d like to be a bit proactive and anticipate the sort of fiascos we’ve seen going on in burgs to the north of us; Denver’s T-Rex, Colorado Springs long suffering with widening it’s segment of I-25. Supposedly, I’ve heard tell that Pueblo is to be the next growth community along the Front Range. I think that is correct. Especially considering how expensive and exasperating life is in places north of us. We should prepare, accordingly.

But, if the Super-Slab IS going to happen, and confidence is ‘high’, we might want to rethink what sort of work will best suit Pueblo.

Do we need to merely widen the interstate? Or, would it be better, more esthetic and more becoming our desires to make Pueblo a more attractive city to live and work in?

There were other plans offered on how to expand the interstate through town a few years ago. Not only a widened interstate, but a freeway or, better yet, a parkway. These latter would be much more pleasant to drive on, for local traffic. And, it would reduce, even further, the desire for 18-wheelers to use this particular stretch of highway. It would make the Super-Slab much more attractive to their commercial efforts.

I think we should re-visit the idea of making I-25 through Pueblo, a Business I-25, i.e., a parkway.