August 18, 2003

Dear Public Meeting Participants:

I would like to thank those of you who attended and participated in the System Alternatives Public Meetings held on July 23rd and 29th, 2003. The objective of the meetings was to present the four system “build” alternatives and the No Action system alternative for the I-25 Valley Highway Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). I appreciate your written and verbal comments on the various system alternatives. Attached are our responses to your comments.

During the December 2002 Element Alternatives Public Meetings, we presented 80 element alternatives for the I-25 mainline and major interchanges from Broadway to 6th Avenue including a section of 6th Avenue from I-25 to Federal Boulevard. The number of element alternatives was reduced from 80 to 15 by utilizing multiple screening steps that incorporated comments from the public meetings and the various other public outreach efforts. The screening methodologies incorporated several factors such as environmental impacts, safety, constructability, and community values. The resulting four system “build” alternatives represent a reasonable and representative range utilizing the 15 remaining element alternatives, which will undergo more intensive engineering and environmental analysis.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will continue to keep the public informed about the progress of the I-25 Valley Highway Project. In September 2003, we will be holding Citizen Working Group workshops for 1) Urban Design/Aesthetics (September 15th), 2) South Platte River Corridor (September 16th), 3) Construction Impacts (September 24th), and 4) Noise (September 26th). The Bicycle/Pedestrian Mobility Citizen Working Group met in June 2003 and will meet again in December 2003. We will also be meeting with neighborhood associations and business groups in relation to the project. The next public meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 2003.

If you have questions, concerns, general comments, would like to volunteer for a Citizen Working Group, or require a Spanish translation of CDOTs response to the public comments, please contact the I-25 Valley Highway Hotline at (720) 489-7923. In addition, please visit our web page at www.valleyhighway.com for updated project information.

Thanks again for your continued participation,

Tony Gross
Valley Highway Project Manager
Colorado Department of Transportation, Region 6