Your Reporter Alan Gionet reports on a wide variety of issues and specializes in covering stories in Colorado's foothills. Share you story ideas with him by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.
Hopes are dimming that a worrisome section of U.S. Highway 285 in Colorado will get a redo.
An interchange planned for the intersection of Kings Valley Drive and Highway 285 on the south side of Conifer has been put off for the foreseeable future due to funding problems.
"I just think it's unfortunate that this is not going to occur," said Bill Bruner, chair of the advocacy group, 285 Improvement Committee. Plans for an interchange there were placed on CDOT's 10-year plan radar several years ago, but now the high cost, federal cutbacks, and state budget shortfalls mean there's no money available to do the project.
The intersection has been the scene of multiple serious accidents, including fatalities. Vehicles enter the highway at a 90-degree angle, past an access road, and into traffic. The speed limit has already been reduced to 45 mph, but speeding remains a problem along the Highway 285 corridor.
The Colorado Department of Transportation pointed out the advantages of the planned interchange on its project information page. "The project will create safer multimodal connectivity for the community north and south of US 285. Existing conditions require crossing five lanes of traffic with no pedestrian connections or sidewalks."
"You know a trailer that's loaded. It's not like you can accelerate really quickly," said Steve Barber, who has a tree service in the area and pulls a trailer. The intersection is unnerving.
"It's hard to see coming down this way. People get in the wrong lanes and people expect them to slow down, and they don’t. And they pull out, and they get smashed either way," Bruner said.
For years, it has been a priority. Bruner says he has watched traffic counts on 285 in the foothills rise from 6,800 cars a day in 2016 to now more than 18,000 a day.
A 2021 design was priced at about $35 to 40 million. But the project has been beset by right-of-way and historic preservation issues. Its most recent estimate is 77 million dollars.
"The main issue is the cost of this interchange. It's just very excessive right now. I don't want to go down a rabbit hole by any means, but we're just in a position where we have to rely on federal grants to accomplish this kind of stuff and we don't really have that money right now," CDOT engineer Tom DiNardo told an audience at a Conifer Town Hall in November. "This has kind of been a little bit of a black eye for CDOT, unfortunately. We've made a lot of promises to the community, and we haven't been able to fulfill it."
There have been rumble strips added and the speed limit reduced. CDOT says it is looking at other alternatives, but the project right now is put off indefinitely.
"I think sometimes the state wants to overdo projects," said Bruner, who says he blames no one. But the danger remains as people wait, hoping funding will improve. "And now they just don't have the funding so you've got to live through the cycle and stick with it and make a difference."