The completion of the 470 beltway around Denver, delayed for decades by high costs and a slew of legal challenges, has hit another setback involving how close the proposed toll road would be to runways at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.

In a July 5 letter, the Federal Aviation Administration tells the airport’s acting director that the Jefferson Parkway’s preferred alignment north of the airport “would introduce new safety risks that do not exist today” by being inside a runway protection zone, a buffer between the end of two runways and a nearby road.

“The proposed alignment would put drivers and passengers closer to the runway ends,” John Bauer, a manager with the FAA’s Denver Airports District Office, said in the letter, which was obtained by The Denver Post. “The purpose of a (runway protection zone) is to protect people and property on the ground if an aircraft accident occurs.”

Jefferson County owns Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport and is a founding member of the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, which oversees the $250 million project.

Bill Ray, interim executive director of the authority, said he is frustrated by the FAA’s position, which he said provides “very little guidance” about what would be a safe route for the controversial 10-mile tollway as it passes the airport and connects into Colorado 128.

The current alignment of the highway that would connect Broomfield to Golden with four new lanes of asphalt through Jefferson County was identified by transportation officials as the best out of 73 choices, Ray said. But he acknowledged that the disagreement with the FAA “is something that needs to be resolved” before the road can become reality.

FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the agency had no additional comment on the issue beyond its July letter to Brian Bishop, the airport’s acting director. Bishop didn’t return calls for comment last week.

The flap with the FAA is hardly the first obstacle the Jefferson Parkway has faced over its tumultuous history. The trouble began more than 50 years ago when plans for a beltway around Denver, originally slated to be a part of the federal interstate system, unraveled amid concerns over air quality.

That left the beltway to be built in segments, as funding became available. The first stretch, C-470 from Golden to Lone Tree, was built in the late 1980s. The 47-mile E-470 on the east side of the metro area came together in phases in the 1990s as a toll highway. The privately funded Northwest Parkway, connecting Thornton to Broomfield, opened in 2003 and brought the beltway within 20 miles of completion.

There are still small sections of roadway at each end of the Jefferson Parkway route — in Broomfield and in Golden — that aren’t yet planned for improvement as part of the beltway.

Related Articles September 15, 2020 Denver jury finds man guilty of assault after firing at officers during foot chase

September 14, 2020 Motorcycle driver killed after rear-ending car in Aurora, police say

September 7, 2020 Denver police searching for driver who hit, killed scooter rider downtown early Monday

September 6, 2020 Colorado is making progress on a Front Range railway. Here’s what it will take to make it happen.

September 5, 2020 Shared streets move Denver further from car focus toward pedestrians, bicycles

The Jefferson Parkway, the latest iteration of the beltway through the metro area’s northwest quadrant, has faced fierce opposition from a wide range of detractors: environmentalists worried that the highway will spur suburban sprawl, residents concerned about potential radioactive contamination from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons manufacturing plant and nearby communities fearing increased traffic congestion.

In 2011, Superior and others sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, over a land swap the agency wanted to do with the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority to allow the parkway to run along the refuge’s east boundary. The town argued that environmental review of the deal was insufficient.

After multiple challenges in federal court, a judge ruled in late 2012 that the land swap could proceed. That decision was upheld by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals three years later.

Ray last week expressed confidence the issue with the FAA would ultimately be resolved and that the process of finding a private firm to take on the task of building the parkway could begin next year, with a completion of the project possible by 2022. The authority hosted a public meeting in Arvada late last month outlining the parkway’s progress.

“We’re continuing to work on identifying ways of addressing the legitimate concerns of the FAA while moving forward on the project,” Ray said.

But at what cost, attorney Tim Gablehouse wonders. He has represented Superior in the town’s years-long fight against the Jefferson Parkway. Moving the interchange with Colorado 128 away from the airport’s runways would be costly, necessitating the acquisition of more expensive land for right of way.

“It would push the interchange into the golf course,” said Gablehouse, referring to the Omni Interlocken golf course, directly north of the airport.

And the higher the costs go, the more difficulty parkway officials will face trying to line up a private partner to build and operate the tollway under a long-term public-private contract, Gablehouse said.

“Somebody at some point is going to wonder if this project is financially viable,” he said.