That 18 mile stretch of I-25 from Monument to Castle Rock (Denver: taxation, live in)

[TCHP]

Exactly. Once completed and available, it will promote more commuting from COS and will lead to even more traffic and the congestion will never go away.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by TCHP

Exactly. Once completed and available, it will promote more commuting from COS and will lead to even more traffic and the congestion will never go away.

Agree. IIRC that's the so-called 'turnpike effect' where IF you build it (roads) they WILL come and fill up the lane capacity with ever more development.

But what are we to do in a country still growing, even though not at higher rates seen in the past.

It would be remiss of us to not accommodate the realities of growth. IMO we cannot foist the entire bill for this onto landowners who develop property...there is a 'common good' from economic activity.

Our experience is that dense downtowns (and islands like DTC) breed more density as a critical mass of universities and employers coalesce into hot spots of economic activity. A perfect example is the recent article on "Best and Brightest Headed to Boulder." What's true in the Boulder case is true in numerous other areas, to include chunks of Denver, DTC, etc.

Education and employment hot spots like Boulder, Denver, et al, create demand for conveniently located housing and it is that demand which causes prices of homes to rise IAW the usual laws of supply and demand. Thus there is price-driven demand for housing in COLO SPGS to accommodate those priced out of Denver and price-driven demand for housing in Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette, Niwot, Superior, etc for those priced out of Boulder.

We have no national or state zoning and development plans to attack these pricing inefficiencies. By sheer political atrophy we still have the old laissez-faire attitude that landowners, aka developers, can mostly do as they please with their acreage. Developers thus capitalize on the profits of density while the infrastructure costs are socialized onto we taxpayers. I don't see any change to this situation, we are just going to have to pony up the tax dollars for roads and rail transit to ameliorate commuting congestion....the 'common good' of it all where developers take a risk with their capital and we support the public cost of handling that growth.

Though COLO SPGS has a lot going for it that 'should' make it attractive to desirable employers, the situation there with an amateur government plus the onerous TABOR laws means there will be no money for incentives to entice good employers and no money to fix the infrastructures on which modern employers rely. Though anti-tax and anti-government ideologues wax poetic and claim this as a success the reality is one of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face while making regional problems worse.

I've left it all behind, moved to Peoria, AZ where we have excellent infrastructure and adult government.

EDIT TO ADD: When I speak of government incentives to bring a business into a given state or city, here's the story of how China has spent BILLIONS to entice Apple to build their electronics in that country. Not millions, it's billions with a B.

[LHS79]

True- I've seen it called "induced congestion" (or something like that) when they were talking about TRex in Denver.


You get relief for a few years then everyone says "wow, no traffic now let's go somewhere" etc....and of course all of the new people moving to the state is not helping either.

[DrDog]

People will come whether you build the roads or not. Better to build big safe roads.

Mike you have moved to AZ which is great at trying to stay up with demand, even get ahead. The 303 and South Mtn freeways are great examples.

Colorado needs to get busy.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by DrDog

People will come whether you build the roads or not. Better to build big safe roads.

Mike you have moved to AZ which is great at trying to stay up with demand, even get ahead. The 303 and South Mtn freeways are great examples.

Colorado needs to get busy.

Thank you. I agree that we should build the roads.

If I had known of TABOR and its impacts before I moved to COLO in 2005 there's a chance we would've passed on COLO in favor of AZ. This website wasn't here in 2004-05 when we were checking things out around the country so I relied on a book called City's Ranked and Rated and COLO SPGS came out well in many criteria. The last five years there were a real letdown. But now I'm doing fine despite the summer heat, and we're right off of the 303 Loop which is smoooooth as glass, as are just about all the roads here. Last week we saw two small bobcats in our yard...really made my wife's day to see them.

[donnab300]

Agree or send people to driving school

[LHS79]

Things MAY be looking up per a story in the GT today:


Colorado officials expected to announce plan to speed up I-25 widening | Colorado Springs Gazette, News

[Vision67]

Originally Posted by Vision67

Group pushes for faster widening of I-25

Group pushes for faster widening of I-25 - KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo


People are getting frustrated with political inaction on this topic.

The group is planning two community meetings next month to gather public input. The first is scheduled for January 24 at 5:00 p.m. at Library 21 C 1175 Chapel Hills Drive in Colorado Springs. A second meeting will be held January 26 at Kirk Hall on the Douglas County Fairgrounds at 500 Fairgrounds Road in Castle Rock.

Maybe we can get it done sooner!

Put that Jan 24 meeting on your calendar if you want to push this.

[LHS79]

And push for 4 lanes in each direction or we will be in the same "jams" in only a few years (like T-Rex in Denver).

[Vision67]

It looks like this problem is getting more attention. Now they are saying it should be complete by 2021.

The funding will allow construction to start in summer 2019 with the project expected to be completed sometime in 2021

New plan will cut in half time to widen I-25 between Monument and Castle Rock | Colorado Springs Gazette, News

Only 4 more years of congestion? Why does it need to take even that much time?