A state pollution analysis for a proposed $725 million expansion of Interstate 270 north of Denver makes “outrageous” claims that the project could keep a lid on greenhouse gases, and that more and more clean vehicles would use the route, environmental advocates say.
Public hearings on the project begin Thursday, and environmental and neighborhood leaders plan to show up in force to slam the Colorado Department of Transportation for allegedly ignoring clean air and climate change mandates to back an expansion plan they say would only result in more cars and more pollution in the corridor.
CDOT’s greenhouse gas analysis for their proposal to build a third tolled traffic lane in each direction concludes the overall “vehicle miles traveled” would not increase in the region if I-270 is widened. CDOT analysts say a safer and less congested 270 would stop heavy commercial trucks from making lengthy detours on I-25 and I-70 to avoid delays.
The lanes would be able to handle more cars and trucks, but their overall trips would be shorter and less polluting, CDOT says. More miles traveled on 270 would mean fewer miles on surrounding roads, for a regional wash, they say.
The claim that a wider 270 would not generate any new trips — called induced demand — is “outrageous, and flies in the face of decades of experience and research showing that widening urban freeways like I-270 results in more traffic, more congestion, and more pollution,” said Earthjustice senior Denver attorney Alexandra Schluntz.
Moreover, the CDOT report assumes that Democratic policies aimed at curbing pollution from motor vehicles will stay in place and boost the emissions progress for any of the considered alternatives, Schluntz said — more of the existing miles driven by cleaner cars means less pollution. In fact, Schluntz said, the Trump administration is systematically dismantling such policies, including outlawing California’s mandated EV sales that Colorado copied, and tossing out national miles-per-gallon fuel standards.
CDOT outlined the alternative routes truckers and residents take when I-270 itself is backed up, increasing vehicle miles traveled and overall pollution. (CDOT map)The Federal Highway Administration did a parallel technical analysis and likewise found the project would reduce pollution from vehicle traffic, including the harmful particulate matter known as PM2.5. They “can’t credibly make that claim while the federal government is actively trying to roll back federal tailpipe standards and fighting Advanced Clean Trucks and Advanced Clean Cars in court,” she said.
“CDOT at least needs to study the range of possible outcomes,” Schluntz said. “Not just assume the best-case scenario.”
CDOT spokesperson Stacia Sellers responded that the state’s greenhouse gas analysis of I-270 expansion “directly states that induced demand is a real phenomenon, but concludes that this particular project will not produce such induced demand.” CDOT is standing by the conclusions that while miles driven may go up on I-270 itself with an additional lane, there will be a “smoothing of demand at a regional level” on alternative routes, Sellers said, in an email response.
As for what will happen with the cars and trucks themselves, and how clean they might be, Sellers said, the same assumptions were made for the nonpreferred alternatives of no additional lanes or three general traffic lanes in each direction instead of one new toll or managed lane.
“These emissions rates are representative of the present regulatory environment, including federal and state laws,” Sellers said.
CDOT chief Shoshana Lew has defended the preferred expansion alternative as the right choice that may never fully please anyone. The state will begin finding out how true that is beginning Thursday, with the first in-person public hearing from 5 to 8 p.m. at Adams City High School. Two more hearings are set for 9 to noon on Jan. 10, and 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 13, also at the high school.
Two informational sessions on the internet are set for Wednesday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Jan. 15, 5 to 6 p.m.
“Although CDOT provided short notice for the public hearings, it’s important for the community to make its voices heard, either by providing in-person or written comment by January 20,” Schluntz said. “Folks should not be trapped by a false choice between ‘less congestion’ and ‘public health’ — it is not too much to ask for a transportation system that meets both needs.”
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