E-470 is a controlled-access

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

that traverses the eastern portion of the Denver metropolitan area in the US state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It is the eastern half of the 470 beltway that serves Meridian, Parker,

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, Denver International Airport, and

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. The toll road is neither a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

nor an

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

and is instead owned and maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority, which is controlled by a governing board of eight elected officials of eight local governments. Construction and operation involves no state or federal funding or taxes, with the exception of a $10 fee originally charged on vehicle registrations for residents of Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties. Historically, 86±2% of the road's revenues have come from tolls.

Route description

E-470 provides an alternate north–south route to

Interstate 25 Interstate 25 (I-25), also known as the Pan-American Freeway, is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 st ...

(I-25) for travelers wishing to bypass

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

to the east. The tollway begins at the I-25/ State Highway 470 (SH 470, C-470) interchange in Lone Tree and runs east through the unincorporated community of Meridian and south of the Centennial Airport. It then passes through the north side of Parker, interchanging with SH 83 (Parker Road) before continuing east to Southlands, an outdoor mall in southeast Aurora. It then turns north through Aurora, passing east of

Buckley Space Force Base Buckley Space Force Base is a United States Space Force base in Aurora, Colorado named after United States Army Air Service First lieutenant, First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley. The base is run by Space Base Delta 2, with major units includin ...

before interchanging with I-70, forming a fly-by interchange. The highway continues north, passing west of Denver International Airport and interchanging with Peña Boulevard at a full cloverleaf interchange to provide access to the airport. E-470 then continues north and then turns to the west, entering the outskirts of Brighton and interchanging with I-76 and then U.S. Highway 85 (US 85) near the unincorporated community of Henderson before reaching the northern end at the interchange with I-25, where the toll road continues west as Northwest Parkway north of Thornton. The quasi-government entity that manages the highway, the E-470 Public Highway Authority, consists of eight member jurisdictions: Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties and the cities of Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City, and Thornton and the town of Parker. In addition to all of these jurisdictions, E-470 also passes through the city and county of

near Denver International Airport. Affiliate, nonvoting members of the Authority, which the highway does not directly serve, are the cities of Arvada, Lone Tree, and Greeley; Weld County; and the city and county of Broomfield. Ex officio members are the

Colorado Department of Transportation The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT, pronounced See Dot) is the principal department of the government of Colorado, Colorado state government that administers state government responsibility for Transportation in Colorado, transport ...

(CDOT), the

Denver Regional Council of Governments Denver ( ) is a consolidated city and county, the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Western United States, in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains east o ...

(DRCOG), the Regional Air Quality Council, and the Regional Transportation District (RTD). The authority is headquartered in Aurora.

Tolls

The toll rate on E-470 for vehicles that do not have ExpressToll automated toll transponders is roughly . In addition to 17 ramp toll interchanges, there are five mainline toll stations along the route and the non-discounted passenger car toll to pass each mainline station is either $4.15 or $4.50; the discounted rates are $2.70 or $2.95. Drivers with ExpressToll accounts, E-470's automated toll collection service, and transponders mounted on their vehicle save 20 percent on posted toll rates along E-470. The toll stations no longer accept cash; E-470 was one of the first highways in the US to implement full highway-speed electronic tolling. Regarding License Plate Toll (for vehicles without ExpressToll transponders), cameras at each station photograph the front and rear license plate of each vehicle. A bill is mailed after approximately 30 days to the registered owner of the vehicle in accordance with state law. Rental car companies at Denver International Airport have been accused of overcharging unwitting visitors for unpaid tolls because of the road's cashless collection system. ExpressToll is also part of the Central United States Interoperability Hub. Toll roads included are the Kansas Turnpike (via K-TAG), the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority system via Pikepass, the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) system via TollTag and the TxTag system, and the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) system in Houston via EZ TAG. Toll tags accepted on E470 include: ExpressToll, EZ-TAG, TollTag, TxTag, K-TAG, and Pikepass. With no compatible toll tag, drivers can be billed the higher license plate toll rate.

History

E-470 is the eastern portion of what was originally planned as Interstate 470 (I-470), a full outer beltway for the Denver metropolitan area proposed by CDOT in the 1960s. After the completion of SH 470, plans for the eastern extension gained momentum in the 1980s, as

moved forward with plans for a new international airport in its corridor. Recognizing the highway's development potential, a number of local governments joined to create the E-470 Public Highway Authority, a quasi-governmental entity that would construct the highway. In 1987, the Public Highway Authority Law was passed by the Colorado State Legislature, giving the E-470 Public Highway Authority the power to do everything needed to plan, design, finance, construct, and operate the toll highway. The highway would be financed through tolls, a relative rarity in the western US. The first section, between I-25 in the south and Parker Road in Douglas County, opened to traffic June 1, 1991. Tolling began on July 15, making E-470 the first highway in the US to implement open road electronic tolling. The highway was opened segment by segment until the final stretch connecting to I-25 in the north in Adams County opened on January 3, 2003. E-470 at I-76

In its early years, traffic was light as the completed portion was short and traversed a largely undeveloped area. With the opening of Denver International Airport in 1995, E-470 came in as a direct route to the airport from the rapidly growing southern tier of the metropolitan area. Upon its completion, the highway provided the same access for northern Colorado, itself a high-growth area. However, perhaps the most significant growth in the region will occur in the E-470 corridor itself, which spawned numerous annexations by member cities; Commerce City has doubled in land area in anticipation of this new development. In the coming decades, 250,000 new residents are expected along the E-470 corridor in Aurora alone, which would nearly double that city's population. Up until 2006, E-470 had four signalized intersections with I-70 and its outer roads, which often got congested at peak hours. In 2006, the E-470 mainline was relocated about one-quarter mile () to the west to bypass the traffic signals and provide free-flowing conditions for toll customers. Ramp traffic accessing I-70 continues to use the signalized interchange, except for northbound E-470 to westbound I-70 traffic, which uses a flyover ramp. The I-70/E-470 Fly-By Interchange Complex in Aurora was recognized by the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) with a National Design Build Award in 2008. In November 2014, an additional interchange opened at Quebec Street in Thornton. In April 2016, E-470 started construction work to widen an stretch of the toll road to three lanes in each direction between Parker Road and Quincy Avenue in southeastern Aurora. The $90-million (equivalent to $ in ) project was completed December 2017. According to the ''2015 E-470 Annual Report'' (page 3), "The widening is being constructed now to get ahead of the curve on future traffic volume, which has had double-digit growth in each of the past three years."

Exit list

References

External links