CO 71 Truck Freight Diversion Feasibility Study

About the Study

Accommodating the rapid growth of interstate freight movements has become a challenge to CDOT. Now there are funding programs through the Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to address freight transportation issues; however, prior to the FAST Act other programs addressed freight by designating “high priority” corridors. This designation includes Colorado State Highway 71 (CO-71) which is the focus of this study and is a segment of the Heartland Expressway Corridor, one of three “high priority” corridors that make up the Ports to Plains (P2P) Alliance. To help address the freight challenge, CDOT initiated the Truck Freight Diversion Feasibility Study. Freight improvements along the P2P Corridor are funneling freight into Colorado and at some point much of that traffic ends up on I-25 and other north-south highways contributing to congestion across the Front Range and the Denver metropolitan area. This congestion proves to be inefficient for the trucking industry and a burden on Colorado’s economy as freight traffic and commuters both waste time and fuel in stop-and-go traffic. Modeling analysis in the Study demonstrates that as improvements are made to CO-71 freight traffic will divert to CO-71 to bypass Denver. This diversion will alleviate congestion on the I-25 Front-Range Corridor.