The public open house meetings were designed to provide a forum to educate and inform the public about the C-470 Corridor Project; answer questions and gather community and neighborhood issues and concerns; and learn about the communities. The October 2003 meetings were the first in a series of meetings planned for the project. Approximately 150 people attended one of three meetings, one in each of the counties that border the C-470 corridor: Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson.

The content of the meetings focused on sharing existing information collected to date, introducing the families of solutions, and gathering input from the public. Representatives from the project team, including personnel from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and its consultants Wilson & Company and PBS&J, along with subcontractors, were available at the open house meetings to talk with citizens.

The most frequent issues we heard were:
• Existing and potential future traffic noise
• Trail repair and improvements
• Improvements at interchanges

Several comments were also received on the potential solutions:
• Broad support for some type of capacity improvement
• Many questions regarding the specifics of Express Lanes and tolls
• Interest in transit and coordination with RTD’s future plans

The project team is addressing these issues, meeting with appropriate parties, and developing strategies to both incorporate the comments in the project and develop education materials to assist the public in further understanding the issues. We will be providing additional information in the coming months on these and other critical project issues.