Frequently Asked Questions
This project encompasses Colorado State Highway 7 (CO 7) between U.S. 85 in Brighton and 28th Street in Boulder.
It has been well documented that communities can’t build their way out of congestion. Adding more general purpose lanes might temporarily reduce some congestion, but ultimately more travel lanes will attract more traffic and make congestion and air quality worse – a situation known as induced demand. As an example, after the massive Transportation Expansion (T-REX) Project finished widening lanes along I-25 in southeast Denver in 2006, traffic congestion returned to pre-expansion levels within five years.
Right now, this project is in the preliminary design phase and it’s unknown when construction of these identified improvements will begin.
The project received a $10 million grant to use for preliminary design work and efforts are ongoing to apply for additional grants and identify local funding sources to continue these efforts.
Numerous cities, counties and local agencies are working hard to identify construction funding while these design efforts are ongoing. Many grant programs that provide funding for projects like this want to see tangible planning efforts in place first, so they know the local jurisdictions are committed to the effort. Having preliminary design plans done will make this project construction ready, giving it an advantage over other projects that haven’t gone through the initial planning efforts.
