More than 650 people with concerns about the Prairie Falcon Parkway Express, formerly known as the Front Range Toll Road, attended a meeting in Calhan at the end of August.Most of those in attendance said they thought that legislation signed by Gov. Owens earlier this year had put an end to Ray Well’s toll road project. But in August, they received notices in the mail that sparked new fears. The legislation that Owens signed prevents toll road companies from exercising eminent domain but allows land to be taken through a public/private partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation. The legislation also requires that toll road projects meet environmental standards and be approved by local governments.The Prairie Falcon Parkway Express affects at least 1,400 property owners in El Paso County and more than 2,600 property owners in Adams, Arapahoe, Elbert, Larimer, Pueblo and Weld counties, including about 23,000 people in the state. It targets a strip of land 1,200 feet wide within a three-mile wide corridor that runs 210 miles from north of Ft. Collins to south of Pueblo, with each end connecting to Interstate 25. The proposed project runs through tributaries of the Arkansas and South Platte rivers as well as the Bijou, Upper Black Squirrel and Upper Big Sandy water basins. The project includes a toll road, a railroad, a utility corridor and service areas.In El Paso County, the proposed toll road runs a mile west of Ellicott Highway along Bar 10 Road, swerves west along Log Road, angles northeast at Spencer Road and crosses into Elbert County at North Calhan Highway. (A map is available at ElPasoMap.pdf.)According to the Prairie Falcon Parkway Express Co. Web site, the cost estimates for the toll road project total between $2 and $3 billion. There is no mention of the financial backers.Peggy Littleton, a Colorado Springs real estate agent, said at the meeting that land prices within the area of the proposed toll road have fallen. Marsha Looper, Republican candidate for House District 19, said that the NRLL recently offered her $19,500 for 55 acres – she paid $88,000 for the land six years ago.Diane Whitley, Democratic chairwoman for Senate District 10, said she plans to work with toll road opponents on a grassroots, bi-partisan effort to defeat the project. “Government is out of control. If this project goes forward, people are going to pay heavily by giving up their homes,” she said. “If we need this road, then the community should sit down and plan it.”Many people at the emergency meeting expressed doubts that the road is necessary, especially when construction of the toll-free Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor, a federally funded expansion and renovation of Highway 287, is already under way. The Ports-to-Plains project, which passes through Lamar, Eads and Limon, is designed to improve the shipment of goods from Mexico to Canada. From Limon, the taxpayer-funded, toll-free Heartland Express follows Highway 71 to Rapid City, S.D.”Why would truckers pay tolls when they can use a toll-free highway?” Looper asked. “In 2005, CDOT reported that this toll road is not financially feasible. The Denver Post has reported that toll roads in general don’t work financially and taxpayers get stuck with the bill when they fail. E470 is struggling right now. This project is nothing less than a land and water grab.”The land will be used to build warehouse distribution centers, and the utility corridor will be used for power lines, cable, and gas, water, and sewer pipelines. The service areas will be used for gas stations, motels and restaurants.”You can bet there will eventually be houses and commercial development – all on land taken by eminent domain.”For more information:www.newfalconherald.com/PrairieFalcon/ElPasoMap.pdfwww.PrairieFalconParkwayExpress.comwww.ports-to-plains.comwww.superslab.orgAnother toll road meeting was held Sept. 27.
