{"id":268,"date":"2025-04-07T11:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yakbeetlepress.net\/?p=268"},"modified":"2025-04-28T11:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T11:23:55","slug":"editorial-could-these-two-pena-boulevard-alternatives-work-for-15-million-lets-find-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yakbeetlepress.net\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/editorial-could-these-two-pena-boulevard-alternatives-work-for-15-million-lets-find-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Could these two Pe\u00f1a Boulevard alternatives work? For $15 million let\u2019s find out."},"content":{"rendered":"

Northeast Denver is booming.<\/p>\n

The airport has grown to one of the busiest in the world.<\/p>\n

Fertile fields are now subdivisions full of single-family houses.<\/p>\n

While several Denver schools have closed because of declining enrollment, northeast Denver needs a new elementary school building.<\/p>\n

Pe\u00f1a Boulevard, the area\u2019s most direct thoroughfare, feels the strain.<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s City Council was right to allocate $15 million to study the widening of Pe\u00f1a Boulevard<\/a> — which is now a two-lane divided freeway — and begin the early stages of design.<\/p>\n

However, the city should look long and hard at the alternatives presented by Peak Consulting at the end of the five-year study. While traffic on the road has ballooned to an average of 135,000 cars per day, there are two other transit corridors that are not at capacity.<\/p>\n

First, the enterprise-operated toll road E-470<\/a> is a three-lane divided highway that runs parallel to Pe\u00f1a Boulevard until they meet just a few miles from Denver International Airport. The third lane is new and part of a $350 million expansion started in 2022. The eastern section of Pe\u00f1a between the E-470 intersection and the airport has already been widened and improved by the Denver International Airport. The one-way trip from Interstate 70 to the airport on the toll road costs $2.65 with a toll pass and $4.25 without. It\u2019s more if users get on the toll road earlier.<\/p>\n

Second, the A-line train run by the Regional Transportation District from downtown’s Union Station to the airport’s terminal is not at full capacity despite offering a consistent service every 15 minutes during most times of the day, and 30 minutes in the very early morning hours. The one-way trip costs $10.<\/p>\n

For $15 million, Peak Consulting needs to look at these two alternatives to widening Pe\u00f1a Boulevard. Forcing traffic patterns onto those other two routes could save money and help the environment.<\/p>\n

This is not the \u201cwar on cars\u201d that Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn fears, nor is it \u201ccrazyland\u201d where Councilwoman Sarah Parady fears<\/a> we\u2019re ignoring the threat of climate change.<\/p>\n

Rather, this is looking for the most cost-effective way to get folks to and from the airport while acknowledging the obvious benefits for the environment if that route is an electric public transit system already built.<\/p>\n

Adding a toll to Pe\u00f1a Boulevard would be wildly unpopular but would likely push more users in eastern Aurora and eastern Centennial onto the faster E-470 route even when they have time to spare. Increasing the price of parking at the airport or adding free secure parking at light rail and commuter rail stops would push or pull more users to the train.<\/p>\n