Last week marked a major milestone towards completing the final link in the beltway that will encircle the Denver metro area. The Board of Directors of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) voted to include the proposed Jefferson Parkway in the group's long-range regional transportation plan.

The vote was 35 for and 17 against. The long-awaited final vote on January 20 came after hours of discussion by DRCOG members and years of studies, fact gathering, public involvement and commitment by Jefferson County.

As the county’s representative to DRCOG, Commissioner Kathy Hartman, who also chairs the Jeffco Board of Commissioners, cast the county’s vote for the parkway.

“It’s time to make a regional decision,” Hartman told DRCOG board members who represent 52 municipal and county governments within the nine county Denver region.

The cities of Golden and Boulder, and Boulder County have lobbied hard against the parkway. At the DRCOG meeting, after Golden again asserting the road extension will increase traffic congestion along Highway 93, Hartman said, “Jefferson County has always offered to work with Golden and that offer is still there. We even have an offer still on the table of $1 million to Golden to make improvements to Highway 93.”

Commissioner Kevin McCasky chairs the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, which is a partnership of Jefferson County, the City of Arvada and the City and County of Broomfield.  He spoke in favor of the parkway at DRCOG’s public hearing, which was held the month before the vote. The January 20th meeting was reserved for member discussion.

“We're grateful to the DRCOG board for their commitment to serve the best interests of the entire region," McCasky said in a letter to the board after the vote.

The link to be built will run from the Interlocken area just off U.S. 36 to Colorado 93 north of Golden. It would be built by a private vendor. Having the proposed roadway on DRCOG’s transportation plan is necessary to enable the Highway Authority to actively seek private partners to build the highway. In recent years there has been no  federal or state funding available for transportation so local governments have turned to public private partnerships to build projects like this.

“I am confident the proposal will help to address the needs of the region’s growing population and vehicular traffic,” McCasky said. “We must implement plans that support our transportation network, our economic ability to maintain and create jobs, and support the government services our citizens have come to expect from all levels of government.”

This is the second milestone the parkway has passed in the last year.  On July 23, the Colorado Department of Transportation voted unanimously to issue a 1601 Permit that will allow the authority to begin the studies necessary to connect the new parkway to state highways. 

Jefferson County Boards of Commissioners have long supported completion of the beltway.  On Tuesday, January 19, the three current commissioners discussed the upcoming DRCOG meeting and voted again to cast their vote for the beltway.  “It was unanimous,” said Commissioner Faye Griffin. “We all three support completion of this vital transportation link.”