CDOT Moving Ahead with $800 million I-270 Highway Widening

The Colorado Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to widen and add express toll lanes to Interstate 270 in the north Denver area.

More than 100,000 shipping trucks and commuter cars travel through the six-mile diagonal stretch of I-270, which CDOT wants to widen between interstates 70 and 76. The transportation department plans to add as many six lanes to the I-270 section, which is currently four lanes, including two normal car lanes and one express toll lane in each direction.

A public comment window is wrapping up today, January 20, after three in-person meetings were held in Commerce City between January 8 and 13, as well as webinars on January 7 and 15. The CDOT Transportation Commission also heard public comments and discussed the project on January 15.

There are promises to improve the infrastructure around I-270, too, such as rebuilding an interchange onto Vasquez Boulevard and improvements to ramps entering I-76.

The I-270 project would take place mostly in Commerce City in Adams County, with about a mile of Denver proper also within the project area, CDOT plans show. The current estimated construction cost for I-270’s widening is about $806 million, with major construction expected to start in 2027 and last approximately five years.

According to CDOT’s project description, “the congested interstate carries far more traffic than it was designed for,” and must be widened to meet current demands. Advocates and residents have questioned whether highway widening really solves congestion, however. Opponents also worried about the impact it will have on low-income neighborhoods around Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, which have dealt with air pollution from Interstate 70 for decades.

“The pavement and bridges are stressed by the traffic loads, and emergency repairs are needed regularly,” according to CDOT. “The corridor also lacks safe and efficient walking, cycling and public transportation options.”

Adams County Commissioner Lynn Baca told the CDOT Transportation Commission on January 15 that I-270 carries “twice the amount of freight than any other corridor in Colorado,” and that residents have expressed concern at public events about creating more traffic.

“It was about implementation, construction, traffic congestion and what that looks like for their community,” Baca said of her conversations with Adams County residents. “I really want to emphasize to work with the community on traffic congestion, impacts to small businesses and what do alternative travel routes look like for for all those that currently drive on I-270.”

Jamie Valdez, an advocate with climate justice group GreenLatinos, told the Transportation Commission on Tuesday that the project is “a costly approach that does not solve congestion.”

“It diverts funding from repairing the existing roads, bridges and infrastructure that communities rely on every day,” Valdez said. “It is well-known that the result of widening or expanding highways often is not long-term reduction of congestion but increased traffic.”

More than half of Denver’s vehicular bridges are in need of some kind of repair, and CDOT’s current I-270 plans seek to replace twelve of those bridges, including over the South Platte River and Brighton Boulevard, where CDOT wants to add a pedestrian overpass bridge, also.

Other Highway Expansions in Colorado

The I-270 widening has been considered a high-priority project for CDOT since May 2020, when it was first included in CDOT’s Ten-Year Vision Plan, a continuously updated list of $1.7 billion worth of projects.

Nearly one hundred projects in the Ten-Year Vision Plan have been completed since 2020, including the widening of both U.S. Route 550 near Ridgeway State Park and Colorado State Highway 17 in the San Luis Valley to four lanes, and a $105 million project to add shoulder lanes to I-70.

In the current Ten-Year Vision, CDOT is expected to start construction in 2027 to widen U.S. highways 24 East in southeast Colorado and 285 in Fairplay. A handful of projects in still in the planning process would widen highway shoulders too.

Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) also has its own highway widening plans in the works, including for I-270.