Owl Canyon Road subject of county discussion

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Some things about Owl Canyon Road are known: It's carrying a high volume of traffic. It's the only major east-west connection in northern Larimer County. It's costing the county more than $100,000 for maintenance every year.

Then, there are the gray areas: whether or not to pave the road, how to pay for paving and whether a paved road would generate even more traffic, especially more trucks.

These are issues that ruffle a lot of feathers in the north part of the county, and they were taken up by the Larimer County Commissioners on Dec. 4. At a work session, county staff delivered a report about uses and challenges along the oft-discussed roadway.

An east-west connector between Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 287, Owl Canyon Road stretches along County Roads 70 and 72 for 11.5 miles. The route is controversial because many residents don't want to see it become a truck route. At present, the road carries three times the amount of truck traffic as an average Larimer County road, and the county's maintenance bill is a whopping $141,000 per year, according to road and bridge director Dale Miller.

Mobility route needed

Marc Engemoen, director of public works for Larimer County, said the main conclusion coming out of the staff's Owl Canyon study is that there is a "real need for a mobility corridor in the north part of the county," and Owl Canyon Road is the most logical place for it.

"If you want an east-west connection," Engemoen said, "the most obvious is the Owl Canyon corridor, for better or worse." The reasons are a function of history and geology, he added, rather than design or intention.

Historically, there was not a great need for high-mobility east-west corridors in sparsely populated north Larimer County, so no state road was built there. In terms of geology, obstacles such as numerous reservoirs and the hogbacks along U.S. Highway 287 make east-west connectors difficult to build.

In the absence of a state road, traffic going from I-25 to U.S. Highway 287 must use county roads. Owl Canyon Road, Engemoen said, "probably should have been a state highway" considering the high volume of traffic it now carries.

Engemoen stressed that the county is not trying to promote Owl Canyon Road as a truck route. "We're trying to deal with the traffic we already have," he said.

A more immediate Owl Canyon concern is the intersection of CR 70 and CR 15, where visibility and safety are issues. County engineer Martina Wilkinson said traffic has tripled on CR 70 since 1991, and the county is considering installing a four-way stop or a rural roundabout at the junction. Currently there is a stop sign on CR 70, although it now has more traffic than CR 15.

Issue related to Glade

The issue prompting the Dec. 4 work session was the possibility that a new reservoir called Glade might be built in northern Larimer County, and there could be a connection to Owl Canyon Road. The reservoir is being proposed as part of the Northern Integrated Supply Project, and if it's built, Highway 287 will have to be moved. An environmental impact statement concerning the project is due to be released in March, and the commissioners will be asked to comment on two alternatives for a realignment of Highway 287.

Both routes being considered would use an old haul road on the former Holcim cement plant property. The northern route, which would overlap with Owl Canyon Road, could take about 4.2 miles off the county road system, Engemoen said. The western route would cut through a hogback and rejoin Highway 287 farther to the south.

At the Dec. 4 meeting, Commissioner Glenn Gibson said he would recommend the northern alignment if it would save taxpayer dollars on Owl Canyon Road.

Carl Brouwer, project director for NISP and a water resource manager at the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, said NISP currently favors the western alignment. The two routes are equal in cost, but the western alignment would encounter less landowner resistance, he said. The northern alignment would cut through a ranch owned by Adrian Weaver and is opposed by those who don't want an Owl Canyon truck route.

No money for paving

About half the length of Owl Canyon Road is graveled. That portion, which adjoins Highway 287 on the west, currently carries 600 to 1,000 vehicles a day, whereas the threshold at which paving is recommended is about 400 per day.

Cost-wise, the comparison between graveled and paved sections of Owl Canyon Road is striking. The western-most graveled section (3.25 miles) has an annual maintenance budget of $76,650. The eastern-most paved section (4.16 miles) costs $13,480 a year.

However, the cost of paving the graveled portion would be $1 million to $2 million per mile, according to Engemoen. There is currently no money for such a project, he noted, since the county has a backlog of $70 million to $80 million in unfunded road needs.

Owl Canyon Road is unusual in that it serves two purposes: mobility and accessibility. Generally, state and federal highways provide high mobility, Engemoen explained, while county roads offer accessibility to rural residences and businesses. But with no state east-west connector in northern Larimer County, the county road is left to serve both functions.

Owl Canyon's dual purpose sets up conflict. "The tug of war between mobility and accessibility keeps us in hot water all the time," Engemoen said. That's because the through traffic, which uses Owl Canyon primarily for mobility, wants high speed and few access points. Residents who use the road primarily for access want lower speeds and more access points.

At the work session, Engemoen described the network of federal, state and county roads in Larimer County, in particular the east-west connections. In the southeast quarter of the county, the area of heaviest development, there are several east-west mobility roads including State Highway 14, State Highway 392, U.S. Highway 34 and State Highway 402. In the north part of the county, east-west state and federal highways are absent.

Failing grades noted

The county staff developed a grading system for Owl Canyon Road, from A to F, in three subject areas: capacity, safety and road condition. With the current high traffic levels, "capacity" received a failing grade on several road segments. The grades were mostly passing in terms of safety and road condition. However, noted road and bridge manager Dale Miller, "its condition comes at a pretty high cost."

Engemoen said it will be increasingly difficult to maintain grade A and B maintenance levels as costs go up.

Commissioner Karen Wagner asked whether through traffic could be discouraged on Owl Canyon Road, but Engemoen said a sign reading "No Through Truck Traffic" would be difficult to enforce. Furthermore, the staff study showed that one-third of trucks using the road are not through traffic. Even without the trucks, Engemoen said, there's still an issue with the high volume of other vehicle traffic.

Alignment an issue

The possible future alignment of Owl Canyon Road is another hot-button issue. At present, vehicles going from I-25 to U.S. 287 generally take one of two routes. People drive County Road 70 west to either CR 15 or 21, then turn north to tie into CR 72, which they take the rest of the way to U.S. 287.

Rancher Adrian Weaver would prefer east-west traffic to turn north at CR 15, rather than taking the corner near his home at CR 70 and CR 21. In fact, he said, he would be willing to grant an easement to the county to facilitate the CR 15 route.

Helen Boggs, speaking for the Waverly Community Group, said that group prefers paving of CR 72 rather than CR 70, since they want no paved road going through their area.