Officials with the city of Greeley and the Colorado Department of Transportation say there are no firm proposals on the table yet, but they agree to the city’s control of some streets now designated as “commercial routes” for US 34 and US 85. Meaningful action.
“We call it a transfer of ownership,” Greeley Public Works Director Paul Trombino said. “The region has another name. They call it ‘devolution’.
There’s no such action on Greeley’s radar yet, such as Business Route 85 or West Ninth and 10th Streets, such as Business Route 34, Trombino said. However, in the past, “there is a level where we have more control over these roads to the benefit of the region and the city.”
“For any project or work, the permitting authority is CDOT, so there are reasons to do that,” he said. “It’s more of an urban street than anything else, so there are reasons to talk a lot about its shape and form. I think this is more effective for us and for the city.
It is not uncommon for a city or town to build a new highway bypass, but older roads to preserve the “commercial route” designation. And CDOT regional communications manager Jared Phil added that it’s not uncommon for cities and towns to take over those roads and lose the numbered highway designation.
One such incident occurred in Estes Park when the US 34 bypass made the number designation on West Elkhorn Avenue unnecessary.
“That section in the middle of Estes Park doesn’t work as a state highway,” Feil said. “That road has changed its use. It’s generally a request from the municipality first, and Estes Park wanted to route traffic differently. Sometimes a road has clearly become a city road.”
Such a separation of powers is seen in Greeley along East Eighth Street to the city’s airport, once called Colo. 263. Portions of that road were returned to the city in 2007.
“When we do that, we usually have to pay for something that they take over because they’re involved in things like plowing and weeding,” Fiel said. “It’s a treasure you have to go on.”
Trombino agreed. “Streets have a function, but they’re really a liability forever, so it’s very important that we treat them well. We are constantly extending their lives,” he said. “The value is in the land that sits next to it. It’s important for streets not to limit the value of the land — the structures, the buildings, the land that sits next to it. We want to make sure that streets are conducive to asset value and growth.”
Still, Trombino said, the city has agreements with CDOT to maintain those commercial lines, “one for traffic signals and one for general maintenance,” in which the state subsidizes Greeley’s work.
“Not many dollars,” he said. But the contracts are renewed every four years and set out all the issues.
“We do the maintenance not only on Business 85 and 34, but also on US 85 and 34,” he said. “We handle a lot of operational issues for them.”
“Greeley wants us to have a good partnership with CDOT, and I think we do,” Trombino said, leading to the Greater Mobility Reform for Regional Growth and Equity, or MERGE, project. The $117.5 million proposal would replace US 34 at 35th and 47th avenues with grade-separated interchanges, creating a new hub for regional and local bus rapid transit in the Centerplace area. The “equity” department is involved because the project will bridge the gap between the north and south sections of Greeley City by increasing safe movement for pedestrians and other forms of movement.
Trombino’s department is pursuing a $70.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which will be supplemented by $31.5 million from the city, $8 million from CDOT and $7.5 million from the North Front Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Talk of taking back commercial routes 34 and 85 from the state trombino may have been updated in March when Trombino told a City Council work session that the department was considering eliminating the one-way traffic arrangement between West Ninth and 10th streets between 10th and 23rd. ways. His rough-and-ready proposal is to convert commercial Ninth Street to four lanes of two-way traffic, and the more residential 10th Street to two-way traffic.
Currently, those Ninth and 10th lines — now known as part of Commercial Route 34 — each have three lanes, with westbound Ninth traveling between 7,900 and 10,550 average daily trips and eastbound 10th between 8,400 and 10,700 average daily trips.
He told the council that the corridor is one of Greeley’s most vulnerable because traffic routinely exceeds the speed limit, and that solutions could include “calming” traffic through improvements to transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
But since it’s a designated highway, he said for the study session, CDOT needs to be involved in any changes to the layout.
And so, talk of reclaiming roads has been abundant over the summer.
“We’ve had discussions with CDOT about that,” Trombino said. “We had some discussion about what that would look like. We have a regular meeting with CDOT Region 4 to discuss all issues.
“They give us ownership in terms of what’s allowed,” he said. Letting everything on Eighth Avenue, Ninth and 10th Streets is us.
The transfer of funds between the city and the state is “negotiated,” Trombino said. “Like everything else, streets need investment. All streets do. It’s important for the city and for us to understand what those long-term implications are. If we go that route, it’s going to require a lot of discussions across multiple entities in the city — the city manager, the city council, all of those.
“I can’t tell you what the financial part will be,” he said. “If there were to be a transfer of jurisdiction, it would be the right-of-way — from end of sidewalk to end of sidewalk. Anything that happens — work, new access points, development — now requires approval and coordination with CDOT. If that jurisdiction were to transfer, we would be the authority and the right-of-way would go to The city will move.
“We’re still trying to better understand what the framework might look like,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”
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