Sit tight, change is coming to Vine/Lemay intersection

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

People who must drive on North Lemay Avenue at rush hour are accustomed to sitting in long lines of traffic, waiting for a train to pass or a red light to change.

While they're fuming, the residents of Andersonville and Alta Vista, at the interchange of North Lemay and East Vine Drive, endure the noise of trains, trucks and the endless lines of cars.

The situation won't change anytime soon, but Fort Collins is making plans for the future, including improvements that will solve those problems and others. Sometime in the future, the Vine/Lemay intersection will morph into something quite different from its present form. Lemay will skirt around Andersonville to the east and will cross the railroad tracks by going either over or under the tracks.

In addition, Vine Drive will become a neighborhood street with much less traffic, while a new street to the north will become the primary east-west connection. The new street, as yet unnamed but referred to as the "Vine Drive realignment," will be located between Vine and Conifer Street.

For now, however, the plans are just on paper. Until development pays the way for these improvements, the Vine/Lemay intersection will remain a bottleneck and the neighborhoods will continue to breathe vehicle emissions.

At present, the Vine/Lemay intersection is failing, according to city planners. That is, it has more traffic than it can handle at peak times of the day. Because of that, the intersection is holding up some potential development in the area. The city can't allow new developments that will make traffic even worse at the intersection.

There are two big obstacles to fixing the intersection problem. One is that Vine Drive can't be widened. The city council does not want to physically impact either the neighborhoods at Vine and Lemay or the historic Plummer School further to the east. That's why a new arterial street is being planned, parallel to Vine but about one-quarter mile to the north.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Co., with tracks at the intersection, presents another challenge. North Lemay needs to be widened, but the railroad won't allow a wider street to cross its tracks at grade. Instead, the city must build an overpass or underpass--an expensive proposition. Estimates put an overpass at $25 million to $30 million.

Short-term fix

So, what is likely to happen in the short term? Matt Wempe, transportation planner for Fort Collins, said the first segment of the new east-west street could be built in five to seven years as development occurs in the area. That segment will run between College and Lemay and will take some pressure off the Vine/Lemay intersection.

The new street, a four-lane arterial, will begin at North College Avenue, just south of the present Checker Auto store. Going east, it will run parallel to Vine and eventually connect to Timberline Road. How fast that happens will depend on the rate of development in the area.

When there's money to build the new North Lemay, with its expensive railroad crossing, that street will tie into the new east-west arterial, to the north of the present Vine/Lemay intersection.

No new truck route

There are two important things to know about the proposed road changes, according to city planners. First, the new east-west arterial will not be designated as a truck route. Second, the neighborhoods at Vine and Lemay will be protected as plans go forward.

"We don't want to disrupt those neighborhoods," said senior planner Pete Wray. The Vine/Lemay plan, he said, will "preserve the integrity of the Andersonville and Alta Vista neighborhoods and significantly reduce traffic."

Plan updated

The new and redesigned streets are being planned as part of an update of the Mountain Vista Subarea Plan.

The Mountain Vista area is of great interest to Fort Collins, because it has the most vacant, developable land in the city's growth management area, about 1,500 acres. The area lies between North Lemay and Interstate 25, north of Vine Drive. About 40 percent of the land is currently owned by Anheuser-Busch.

City planners who have been working on the Mountain Vista update for a year, anticipate bringing their final plan before the transportation board on June 17. The plan will then be heard by planning and zoning board on June 18. The boards' recommendations will go to the city council, which is scheduled to vote on the plan July 7.

As envisioned, the Mountain Vista area will be home to a new Poudre School District school and a large community park. The plan calls for residential development, which will likely happen first, followed by a neighborhood commercial center, bike lanes and trails.

Planners say there's a lot of development interest in the Mountain Vista area, and people want to move forward when the market improves. The city wants to facilitate that development, but it will require putting together a giant puzzle involving timing and infrastructure. At present, any large projects in the area are on hold because of the infrastructure problems.

The new east-west arterial (Vine Drive realignment) is a critical part of the puzzle. Realigning North Lemay Avenue is also a key piece, and a third is construction of stormwater drainage facilities that are needed in the area, since some land is still in the Dry Creek floodplain.

None of these projects is simple or cheap. Since Fort Collins pays for infrastructure as development happens, it will be challenging to have enough development happen at one time to pay for the infrastructure projects.

Wray said getting the necessary infrastructure in place may require more than development fees. Creative options such as a special improvement district may have to be considered.

For more information about the updated Mountain Vista Subarea Plan, visit the city's web site at www.fcgov.com. Go to "city services," then "advance planning."