ARVADA, Colo. — As Arvada and surrounding communities continue to see growth, on area of concern for residents centers on a busy stretch of Indiana Street.
Denver7 | Your Voice heard from residents in late July as we listened to the concerns of Arvadans and Denver7 is following up on possible solutions to help fix traffic and road conditions along Indiana Street.
“Indiana is a train wreck, traffic is horrible,” said Garrick George, an Arvada resident of 10 years.
Indiana Street is a long corridor that stretches from 64th Avenue to 120th. The City of Arvada owns a small portion between W 86th to W 96th. The rest of Indiana, where most of the traffic occurs, is operated by the state.
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The Colorado Department of Transportation said the agency doesn't have any plans for the corridor, but they do maintain it.
Arvada city leaders said it is a known problem area, and they have even improved portions of Indiana Street that they don’t own.
“On Indiana and 72nd, we improved that intersection on Arvada’s dime, even though it's a state highway, and spent about $8 million,” Arvada District 4 councilman Bob Fifer said.
Fifer is also the Chair of the Jefferson Parkway Authority and somewhat of an encyclopedia of all things transportation in the area.
“(Indiana) was built when it was just a little highway, and farms out here, and there's been an increase in population out in West Arvada,” Fifer said.
The Jefferson Parkway Project, a proposed toll highway, would help alleviate traffic in the area. The big plan was to expand Indiana Street to four lanes and connect residents from Golden to Broomfield.
The project has overcome many hurdles since the highway authority was established in 2008. The latest issue was a settlement with the City and County of Broomfield, which wanted out of the project.
Now the project is at a standstill, sitting on paper and waiting for funding.
“The linchpin to this whole conversation is really the railroad bridge across Indiana that is only wide for two lanes, until that bridge is replaced and widened it would be practically irresponsible of us to continue widening Indiana,” Fifer said.
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The cost to widen the bridge is estimated to be at least $40 million.
Meanwhile, Arvada and surrounding communities are continuing to build, adding more residents and ultimately more traffic to an already well-known problem area.
Fifer said they could widen sections of Indiana, but there would still be frustration once drivers got shifted down to two lanes at the bridge.
Ultimately, it’s a problem that must be fixed, and he says city, county, and state leaders are working to find the best solution.
“No one is sitting and laying back in their chair thinking that this will just resolve itself. It is something that we actively monitor, try to get grants for, try to collaborate and other perspectives, or try to find public private partnerships to either address Indiana and or the parkway,” Fifer said.
