Road from Interstate 70 to casino towns gets state approval

Friday, Oct. 20, 2000 | 9:14 a.m.

Commissioners approved the project 5-4 over the objections of commission members concerned that the new road would add to congestion on I-70.

The Central City Business Improvement District, which consists primarily of the town's casinos, will raise the money for construction and maintenance of the road.

Mayor Don Mattivi said he hopes $45 million in bonds can be marketed so construction can begin next month. The project is expected to take 16 to 18 months.

No Colorado Department of Transportation money would be used to build or maintain the road, which would be called the Central City Expressway.

Central City needed approval from the Transportation Commission to connect the road to I-70 at the Hidden Valley interchange east of Idaho Springs.

Mattivi pitched the road to the commission as a safe alternative to Colorado 119, the only road into the two towns.

The road will also provide a route for metropolitan-area gamblers to get to Central City's slot machines without driving through Black Hawk, which collects the lion's share of state gambling revenues.

Matt Reay, a former transportation department director and now a consultant on the road project, said the Central City road would add 600 vehicles per hour to eastbound I-70 between Idaho Springs and Floyd Hill.

Reay said that part of I-70 will carry 3,500 vehicles per hour during peak periods by 2019.