Some North Denver Residents Criticize I-70 Expansion, Repair Project
DENVER (CBS4) - As many as 20 businesses and 53 homes could be bulldozed to make room for a major Interstate 70 construction project across the metro area.
The proposal, which is the Colorado Department of Transportation's preferred plan, doesn't sit well with some residents in neighborhoods near the area.
"It's going to look good, but what is it going to do for us?" one resident told CBS4. "They're just going to send us somewhere else. We've been living here for 15 years."
The project would revamp I-70 from Interstate 25 to Tower Road in Aurora and expand it to 10 lanes. A large portion of the interstate -- from Brighton to Colorado boulevards -- would be buried underground. CDOT pegs the cost at around $2 billion.
Representatives from CDOT said it wouldn't scatter residents without a plan.
"We're helping people find new homes. Nobody is going to get kicked out onto the street without having a new place to go to," Kirk Webb said.
Others, however, said displacing residents isn't the only issue. Architect Dean Foreman said the project will only increase traffic, not alleviate problems.
"What it does is it induces more traffic to come onto the highway, creating more congestion," he said.
CDOT held community meetings in Aurora and Commerce City to gather feedback on the project. The final meeting is Thursday at Bruce Randolph Middle School.
"The neighborhoods where the viaduct currently is suffer from more health problems than any other neighborhood in the city of Denver," architect Richard Carstens said. "With 10 lanes vs. six, that's only going to get worse."
