This website is a demonstration of an interactive mapping tool that could be used to gather expert and local knowledge about future growth in the region, e.g. during the ACCEA Demonstration Project.

Project description 

The (hypothetical) C470 corridor project from Kipling to I-70 is intended to provide the case study for the demonstration project. There are planning activities directed to providing highway capacity to complete the connection from I-25 south to I-70 west. The original project was built in 1980 and there are various capacity enhancements being discussed ranging from additional lanes to toll lanes only. Adding capacity to local highways are also options. The regional boundary for the demonstration project is taken to be a modified DRCOG urban growth boundary.
Land use development along the C470 corridor has changed dramatically over the past twenty years. The undeveloped lands formerly part of the area have been replaced with a significant increase in residential, commercial and office uses adjacent to the highway corridor, especially in the southern portion of the corridor. The developed land use patterns have been primarily suburban in nature with low density planned developments and an auto orientation.
Details on potential impacts (direct, indirect and cumulative) are addressed in demonstration project resource sections below. The focus of this demonstration project is to tabulate cumulative effects for the local scale and region. For this ACCEA demonstration project we focus on three realms of potential impacts: 1) land use, 2) biological resources and habitat, and 3) water quality. Our emphasis is on demonstrating the utility of GIS data management and modeling tools to develop an accounting of these resources for areas proximate to the C470 roadway right of way, the local area where indirect effects might occur, and the region.

Temporal Scope

Past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions should be considered. The choice of the period 2000 to 2005 as the present is selected and will serve as the baseline. The range of years is selected due to variability of data currency used for the various analyses. Determination of how far into the past and how far into the future to examine other actions was based upon the nature of the project and based upon the history of the corridor. The past year of 1980 was identified for this C-470 analysis because construction of the existing freeway began at that time, with the first segment completed in 1985 and the entire C-470 facility completed in 1990. The corridor as it exists today has largely been shaped since 1980. The reasonably foreseeable future for this C-470 analysis is the year 2030, which is the horizon year for the DRCOG Metro Vision 2030 Regional Transportation Plan.

Geographic Scope

The geographic scope for C-470 cumulative effects analysis is variable, dependent on the resources affected by the project. For land use the geographic scope would be guided by topographic and geopolitical factors such as community or county boundaries. The area of influence of a highway on secondary growth can be determined by modeling of land allocation factors and may extend to some distance from the highway interchanges. For biological resources the geographic scope would be keyed to the ecosystem, habitat zone or watershed. Water quality geo-scope is typically the stream and watershed (and sub-basins). The appropriate geographic scope for cumulative effects analysis for resources and issues pertinent to the C470 demonstration project are described in the resource sections below.

Potential use of this interactive mapping website

We have constructed a policy-focused model to assess possible cumulative development effects related to the C-470 Corridor project.  The emphasis in this analysis is on the explicit definition of development rules which govern whether or not specific parcels are likely to be built out.  These rules are derived from review of local and regional policies.  Our design relies on readily available spatial data and models as well as interviews or focus group meetings with individuals involved in local development processes.  This interactive website could make the collection of feedback on existing data from developers, local experts and community members easier and more effective.