Wheels set in motion for Owl Canyon improvement

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

There's no turning back now on making major improvements to Owl Canyon Road, although it certainly won't be happening soon.

First the county will conduct a comprehensive study lasting as long as two years detailing the needs, costs and implications of various improvement options. Then there's the small problem of covering the estimated cost of up to $20 million when about $1.6 million is available annually for all transportation capital improvements across the 2,600-square-mile county.

But one way or another, the Larimer County Commissioners agreed that it's high time to determine the future of the rural route that, like it or not, is becoming a major commuter thoroughfare and informal truck route.

"I think the uncertainty is beginning to weigh on more people out there," Commissioner Kathay Rennels said in an April meeting to discuss the road's future. In a recent meeting with Wellington residents, she said, the clear consensus was "just do it and do it right."

County Public Works Director Marc Engemoen stressed that the detailed engineering study will include extensive public outreach both collectively and individually with those most directly affected by the road improvements. He said the goal will be to gain broad input resulting in strong support for a preferred course of action.

But at the same time Engemoen cautioned that all need to acknowledge that the fundamental decision has already been made. "We're crossing the threshold and saying it will be done," he said.

That decision, Engemoen said, was inevitable after it became unavoidably apparent that road improvements were essential and there was no one else able to accomplish them other than the county.

"Failing to address the issue is really what we've done for the last 10 years," he said. "We've tried the do-nothing approach and that doesn't seem to be a viable way."

Strictly considering cost, Engemoen said, it's at least twice as expensive to maintain a gravel road than a paved one. And from a safety perspective, he said hazards are increasing along with the traffic, with a particularly dangerous situation developing at the intersection with County Road 15.

In the last 10 years, traffic volumes have increased as much as five-fold on some sections of the only northern artery providing an east-west connection between Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 287 via County Roads 70 and 72. Currently the county counts some 2,500 vehicles daily traveling the eastern section of CR 70 between CR 7 and I-25. Part of the added traffic is attributable to the more than 100 semi trucks traversing the route daily. But the growing number of commuters to jobs in Cheyenne also contributes to the increased volume.

"This isn't just a truck problem, it's a traffic problem," Engemoen said. "By the same token, you can't just ignore the truck issue."

At the same time, he said, improving the road wouldn't necessarily obligate the county to allowing it to be used as a truck route forever. "You aren't precluded from limiting truck traffic in the future," said Engemoen.

The study, he said, will effectively be a preliminary design detailing the preferred alignment and scale of the road. "Is a two-lane road adequate or should we look at a four-lane road?" Engemoen explained. "What should the improvements look like?"

Rennels asked for assurance that any improvements not create any more "chaos" than currently exists at the dangerous intersection with U.S. 287.