Religious Leaders Petition Against I-70 Widening Project
DENVER (CBS4) - Some religious leaders are now petitioning against a proposed Interstate 70 widening project.
The Colorado Department of Transportation wants to widen I-70 from Brighton Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard, and in some cases stretching into neighborhoods in North Denver.
Swansea Elementary is currently just a couple hundred feet from the interstate. The group worries if the highway gets any wider the area will become a health and safety risk. CDOT says those concerns were factored in and the proposal still made the most sense.
CDOT wants start the project with removing the viaduct that stretches from Brighton to Colorado Boulevard. Engineers say after 50 years it's at the end of its lifespan.
"We want to make sure that if we do this we do it for something that's going to be viable for the next 100 years," a CDOT official said.
The plan now is to drop the roadway below ground level and cover part of it with a massive park. For some, it makes sense. But for a group of local religious organizations, it doesn't, and it's prompting a petition against the proposal.
In a letter to CDOT the group, which is led by members of the Iliff School of Theology, cites several concerns. The first is public health and the effects pollution would have on residents in nearby neighborhoods -- specifically Elyria-Swansea and Globeville. They also fear the highway would cause separation between close-knit families and neighborhoods.
Over the next year CDOT will respond to the group's concerns as well as hundreds of others that they received during the public comment period.
They are nearing the final steps in the process and the plan right now is to start construction in late 2016.