They cost the taxpayers money because of the need for expanded services. With all due respect, Mr. Berens needs to take a lesson from the pages of history and bone up on his knowledge about the devastating impacts wrought by beltways. Do the citizens of Denver wish to resemble the beltway cities of Washington, D.C. or Dallas-Ft. The city center becomes blighted, strip developments arise along the beltway, and residential and retail sprawl mushrooms beyond. Worth, where a twenty mile commute takes ninety minutes, is ringed by two beltways.
Beltways are an archaic step backward.
Those who voted for the Save Open Space initiative as well as the citizens who fought to preserve South Table Mountain from the Nike Corporation development should take note. History is resplendent with proof that new highway construction is the golden carrot to new development and that land adjacent to the new highways becomes ripe for development, Just look at what is happening in South Jefferson County along highway C-470. As soon as the route has been selected and funding is in place, the price of land nearby escalates. The people who move into these houses demand services nearby and thus the big box retail stores and junk-food restaurants spring up. The average household generates at least ten vehicle trips per day and, suddenly, that new road which once existed in the middle of nowhere is lined with houses and commercial development and clogged with automobiles.