Lakewood’s voice on emissions and C-470 lane cut

Residents of Lakewood, Colorado occasionally have a voice on state issues. One example was Lakewood’s vote to cut a lane expansion on C-470 near Morrison in order to decrease traffic emissions for air quality.

Lakewood is a voting member of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). From the DRCOG website: “DRCOG has served as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Denver region since 1977.” DRCOG models vehicle emissions for proposed projects using state and federal funds. If a project shows emissions that will exceed limits it cannot proceed or must be modified.

The limits for projects are defined in a new state rule adopted by the Transportation Commission. If a project doesn’t pass the new limit, no problem, money is still available for multi-modal projects.

“…reduce growth in driving is an important tool”

-DRCOG

From the new rule, pg. 4, “A key finding in the Roadmap recognized that “making changes to transportation planning and infrastructure to reduce growth in driving is an important tool” to meet the statewide GHG pollution reduction goals (see Roadmap, p. 32). Section 8 of these Rules also advances the State’s goals to reduce emissions of other harmful air pollutants, including ozone.”

To sum it up, the unelected Transportation Commission made a new rule, not a legislative law, to reduce growth in driving in order to meet their own new regional emission standards. This new rule was then passed to another unelected organization, DRCOG, to implement. Officials from metro governments got to vote on the new plan.

How did Lakewood Vote

Lakewood City Council Member Jeslin Shahrezaei serves as the Lakewood DRCOG representative. With her vote, Lakewood voted to support the new plan, which eliminated a proposed new lane on C-470 near Morrison, along with plans for I-70 and I-25. This is in line with DRCOGs shift away from focusing on traffic congestion.

In a LakewoodInformer interview, Council Member Shahrezaei says it’s a matter of law. This is in reference to the new rule that will not fund projects increasing emissions.

When asked if she thought this was a place to advocate for those driving to the tech center for work, the answer was unequivocal…. “No”.

But she also says, per the video, that there are many other ways for commuters to get to the tech center and that people work from home now anyway.

“I think there’s a lot of ways to get to the tech center, and I don’t know that it’s single occupancy vehicles that are gonna do that for us,” says Shahrezaei. DRCOG agrees. See their performance measures listed below, or their Mobility Blueprint Summary.

For some statistics on change in public transit and driving, see Sharf: DRCOG joins Colorado’s war on cars and roads.