State Highway 470 (
C-470,
SH 470) is the southwestern portion of the Denver Metro area's beltway. Originally planned as Interstate 470 in the 1960s, the beltway project was attacked on environmental impact grounds and the interstate beltway was never built. The portion of "Interstate 470" that was built as a
state highwayState highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state government in a country that is divided into states :...
is the present-day SH 470, which is a
freewayA freeway is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections. This is accomplished by preventing access to and from adjacent properties and eliminating all cross traffic through the use of grade separations and...
for its entire length.
SH 470 begins in
Golden, ColoradoThe historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the eastern edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the...
, starting south from its western terminus at US 6 (6th Avenue) near the intersection with Johnson Road.
State Highway 470 (
C-470,
SH 470) is the southwestern portion of the Denver Metro area's beltway. Originally planned as Interstate 470 in the 1960s, the beltway project was attacked on environmental impact grounds and the interstate beltway was never built. The portion of "Interstate 470" that was built as a
state highwayState highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state government in a country that is divided into states :...
is the present-day SH 470, which is a
freewayA freeway is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections. This is accomplished by preventing access to and from adjacent properties and eliminating all cross traffic through the use of grade separations and...
for its entire length.
Route description
SH 470 begins in
Golden, ColoradoThe historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the eastern edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the...
, starting south from its western terminus at US 6 (6th Avenue) near the intersection with Johnson Road. The highway has interchanges with Interstate 70, State Highway 8, and U.S. Highway 285, then curves to the east. The eastbound portion of SH 470 has interchanges with State Highway 121 (Wadsworth Boulevard), State Highway 75 (Platte Canyon Road), U.S. Highway 85 (South Santa Fe Drive), and State Highway 177 (South University Boulevard). The eastern terminus is the interchange with I-25. Beyond the eastern terminus, the direct continuation of SH 470 becomes the
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
tollway.
Proposed I-470
In the 1960s the
Colorado Department of TransportationThe Colorado Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the State of Colorado of the United States. CDOT is responsible for maintaining 9,161 mile highway system, including 3,775 bridges with over 28.6 billion vehicle miles of travel...
perceived a need for a beltway around the Denver Metro Area and sent a proposal to the
Federal Highway AdministrationThe Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation...
. The plan was for the federal government to provide 90% of funds for the project with the state providing the difference. I-470 was added to the Federal Highway Act of 1968 and was to be part of the Interstate Highway and Defense System. The Denver City Council approved the location and began engineering and environmental impact studies. After a few months the studies went under analysis with negative feedback. The Colorado Department of Health was opposed to the interstate beltway on the grounds that it would violate the Federal Clean Air Act. Other studies compared the proposed I-470 to the I-25 and I-225 freeways suggesting that alternate uses for the land (other than freeways) would be more environmentally friendly.
I-470 to Centennial Parkway
The feedback from the Colorado Department of Health caused all efforts to plan and build the beltway to cease by order of the governor. A separate commission was established by Governor Richard Lamm to evaluate the right course of action. The commission came up with 11 alternatives. The final decision was to use federal highway funds to build a grand parkway known as Centennial Parkway (a partial beltway in the southwest portion of the metro area) and widen existing roads.
Centennial Parkway to SH 470
As the southwestern area grew rapidly, plans for Centennial Parkway evolved to conform to freeway standards. The proposed road was designated State Highway 470. Present-day SH 470 is a
freewayA freeway is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections. This is accomplished by preventing access to and from adjacent properties and eliminating all cross traffic through the use of grade separations and...
that is mostly built to interstate standards.
Tollways are planned for the rest of the beltway
After the completion of SH 470 in the southwest, desires for a full beltway persisted in some circles and plans for an extension were created.
CDOTThe Colorado Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the State of Colorado of the United States. CDOT is responsible for maintaining 9,161 mile highway system, including 3,775 bridges with over 28.6 billion vehicle miles of travel...
did not wish to participate in the building of the freeway extension and left the counties and cities of the metro area to provide funding for the project. The east, north, and northwest portions of the beltway could only be built as tollways.
E-470
A tollway extension of SH 470, east and north of the SH 470 eastern terminus, was built to the junction with
State Highway 83State Highway 83 is a state highway that runs form SH 115 interchange in south Colorado Springs to SH 2 at Leetsdale Dr. / Colorado Blvd. in Denver. It gives service through Colorado Springs as Academy Blvd from SH 115 to just south of the United States Air Force Academy , through the rural...
(Parker Road) and termed Eastern/Extension 470 or
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
. Subsequently,
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
was extended to the interchange with I-70 in the east, and later to I-25 in the north. This newly added tollway was built and continues to be administered by a quasi-governmental organization known as the
E-470 Public Highway Authority.
Northwest Parkway
When highway interests pushed for the rest of the beltway to be completed, the city of
GoldenThe historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the eastern edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the...
voted to stop all efforts to finish the beltway due to traffic concerns. The city and county of
Broomfield, ColoradoThe City and County of Broomfield is a prominent suburb and tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado...
effected an continuation of the
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
tollway from I-25 to an interchange with US 36 (the former Denver-Boulder Turnpike) near
Flatiron Crossing MallFlatiron Crossing Mall is a shopping mall owned by Macerich Property Group in Broomfield, Colorado. It has many shops, including Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, Apple, Dicks Sporting Goods, and Aeropostale. It also has a large food court and outdoor shopping center. It has a...
. This section of the tollway is known as the
Northwest ParkwayThe Northwest Parkway is an toll road running from the intersection of I-25 and E-470 to US 36 at 96th Street. Both termini are in Broomfield, Colorado, northwest of Denver. In combination with E-470 and SH 470 , the Northwest Parkway forms a partial beltway of approximately around the...
, and is administered, similarly to
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
, by its own quasi-governmental agency. In combination with
E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
(47 miles) and SH 470 (27 miles), the
Northwest Parkway brings the total length of the completed portion of the beltway around the
Denver-Aurora Metropolitan AreaThe Denver-Aurora-Broomfield Metropolitan Statistical Area is a United States Census Bureau defined Metropolitan Statistical Area in the State of Colorado that includes the City and County of Denver and nine suburban counties. The Census Bureau estimates that the population was 2,357,404 on...
to approximately . The uncompleted portion, from the west end of the Northwest Parkway to the northwest end of SH 470, is along existing streets.
http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?go=1&do=nw&rmm=1&mo=ma&un=m&1rc=I1AAA&cl=EN&qq=8sZ2eXZGPCFEMLp9VGzGfEpt%252fFydj92e8q7d1Dr6ZlEsP%252fVPzrIp0Bja4Yeu0N7cgtLtTLltxl3um0FUqgJBhlubJ7QG2ncUomb1pZlH0WsN4O9iAWSWfJKnIY3cA8XoIOTFe%252bZ09Z1EWCYy4FiJxKv2ihPxuG5tLcW%252bnIJrbwCmNl8MRLzYpSWTKzp8aFbUiIOaBwqXwHAIMIIbNPDQuaW2OABx8RvrcRCKB6%252bnpbYGMTf%252fbnTlfkCAyDHS0QITnBFFVSDVT2vOBJ8cdMBaxMtHFX6tJSTAJiqWJtqc0fo6V2vIR0bRlsXIlMXwlsr5MU8HxowyEaa%252bFcMM2iowUEqQZ4DQHSFT7I1wnWLhX2fexqWieRSPgWJtdQPeSs5uc3%252bgDpZiyfsBE%252fblz4g2BObLvfaMbCiGwUv6f32GFzyHGitDCo5kci1QKV6uHPFxwTTlXv5rAiogp6DWCFBpPCpcV3VcBbtJ3ebGApbTV2vFO8yv5GvaZLSOck3sMeSl4jbYJaLEzCLz7O%252b%252byMw05gHkwTZQOvEC1ZbeLj4cfy7WnO2s5RAT%252frgS3r6djjjXRo9ZjUh1bPM%253d&ct=NA&r=s&1si=tana&did=1171406112&rsres=1&1y=US&1ffi=&1l=Xj%252bQNUSTFEvd6GFNSCEIHQ%253d%253d&1g=cO%252f%252fKJbLhBMns9cXm3F%252f4Q%253d%253d&1pl=&1v=INTERSECTION&1n=BROOMFIELD+COUNTY&1pn=&1a=Us+Hwy+36+%26+Northwest+Pkwy&1c=Broomfield&1s=CO&1z=80020&2y=US&2ffi=&2l=&2g=&2pl=&2v=&2n=&2pn=&2a=Us+Hwy+6+%26+State+Hwy+470&2c=Golden&2s=CO&2z=80401&panelbtn=2]
Proposed
W-470
As of August 2003,
CDOTThe Colorado Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the State of Colorado of the United States. CDOT is responsible for maintaining 9,161 mile highway system, including 3,775 bridges with over 28.6 billion vehicle miles of travel...
made a compromise with the cities of
WestminsterWestminster is a Home Rule Municipality in Adams and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Westminster is a northwest suburb of Denver. The Westminster Municipal Center is located north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city...
,
ArvadaThe City of Arvada is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties in the Denver Metropolitan Area of the U.S. State of Colorado. Olde Town Arvada is located northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of...
and
GoldenThe historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the eastern edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the...
to do an environmental impact study, the first step in an attempt to complete the beltway by 2010. The last segment of the beltway would be another tollway, tentatively called W-470, and would connect the west end of the
Northwest ParkwayThe Northwest Parkway is an toll road running from the intersection of I-25 and E-470 to US 36 at 96th Street. Both termini are in Broomfield, Colorado, northwest of Denver. In combination with E-470 and SH 470 , the Northwest Parkway forms a partial beltway of approximately around the...
to the northwest end of SH 470. Some observers estimate that W-470 is more likely to be completed in 2020 than in 2010.
Exit list
Note: Exits on SH 470 are currently unnumbered.
| County |
Location |
Mile |
Destinations |
Notes |
| Jefferson Jefferson County is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county population was 533,339 in 2008. The county seat is Golden and the most populous city is Lakewood...
|
Golden The historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the eastern edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the...
|
|
| Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; west end of SH 470 |
| 0.001 |
| |
| 0.001 |
| Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
|
1.842 |
|
MorrisonThe historic Town of Morrison is a Home Rule Municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 430 at the 2000 census. It is notably where Red Rocks Amphitheatre is located, which started in 1928.- History :...
|
4.248 |
| |
| Lakewood Lakewood is a Home Rule Municipality that is the most populous city in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Lakewood is the fourth most populous city in the State of Colorado and the 164th most populous city in the United States...
|
5.699 |
| |
| 6.250 |
Quincy Avenue |
|
| 7.901 |
Bowles Avenue |
|
| 10.192 |
Ken Caryl Avenue |
|
|
12.449 |
Kipling Parkway |
|
|
13.902 |
| |
|
15.443 |
| Westbound exit and entrance |
| Douglas Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is located midway between Colorado's two largest cities: Denver and Colorado Springs. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county population was 280,621 in 2008, a...
|
|
17.000 |
| |
LittletonLittleton is a Home Rule Municipality in Arapahoe County and Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 17th most populous city in the State of Colorado...
|
18.458 |
Lucent Boulevard |
|
| 19.599 |
Broadway |
|
| 21.069 |
| |
| 24.144 |
Quebec Street |
|
| Lone Tree Lone Tree is a Home Rule Municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 4,873 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lone Tree is located at . It is on the northern border of Douglas County, and directly adjacent to Arapahoe County...
|
25.574 |
Yosemite Street |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 26.195 |
| East end of SH 470; continues east as E-470E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority....
|
External links