“The project is in harmony with the community and preserves
environmental, scenic, aesthetic, historic and natural resource
values of the area.”
The Context Sensitive Solution process was not used by CDOT in the Tier 1
Draft PEIS which selects highway expansion as the priority action in the
mountain corridor.
The Draft PEIS process did not incorporate the Context Sensitive Solutions
process which requires that an interdisciplinary team of stakeholders be
created and have active input to decision making throughout the PEIS
process. Instead, CDOT retained unilateral control of the Draft PEIS
decision making process, shutting down all corridor stakeholders
(the far left of the chart above and below).
Implementation of the Context Sensitive Solutions process at Tier 2 when the
mode and general alignment of the preferred alternative has already been
selected negates the benefits of the CSS process. The single most effective
Impact Mitigation tool is Avoidance of Impacts.
Avoidance is the selection of an improvement alternative that mitigates mobility,
economic, social, community, historic, cultural and environmental impacts by
selecting the Least Harmful Alternative.
Tier 2 Impact Mitigation is relatively Meaningless if the
Most Harmful Alternative is selected in Tier 1
(the current situation for the I-70 Draft PEIS).
The cost of highway improvements in the DPEIS is deceptively low because it
does not include CSS or specific mitigation measures to ensure environmentally
protective design.
If Glenwood Canyon’s four lanes were built today, it would cost around $80
million per mile in Capital Cost. A six lane extrapolation for a Glenwood Canyon
style design would result in capiatal costs exceeding $100 million per mile.
Six Lane Highway Costs w/Context Sensitive Design:
- MP 259 to 253, Westbound Only, Morrison/US 40 Interchange
to Chief Hosa Interchange - $100 Million
- MP 247 to 225, Eastbound and Westbound, Floyd Hill to Silver
Plume, 22 miles in Clear Creek County w/Context Sensitive
Design- $2.2 billion
- MP 225 to 215, Eastbound and Westbound, Silver Plume to
EJMT, 10 miles - $1 billion
- EJMT Third Bore - $450 million
- MP 180 to 190, Eastbound & Westbound, Vail Pass w/ Context
Sensitive Design - $1 billion
- Dowd Canyon Tunnel - $364 million
Total $5.114 billion
An Elevated Rail Solution from Golden to Vail has been estimated
at between $3.7 and $4 billion which would be less expensive than
a six lane highway solution.
The truth is that a rail solution will not only be less expensive than
a highway expansion solution for the I-70 mountain corridor, but will
better facilitate the Context Sensitive Solutions process and provide
for a superior Context Sensitive Design.
