The Colorado Department of Transportation’s massive project to reconstruct a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 is creating concerns for nearby residents in the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods. (Video by Skyler Ballard & Katie Klann)
On Sept. 12, 1964, hundreds crowded across freshly-painted highway stripes to watch the dedication of a new $12.5 million, 2.6-mile stretch of Interstate 70 designed to ease traffic congestion on what had been a four-lane street.
City and state officials joined highway engineers as an enormous ribbon was cut and onlookers applauded the first ever segment of I-70. Shortly after, the first vehicles poured through the section, headed to destinations east and westbound on a freeway that connected Jackson Street to the Valley Highway (present-day Interstate 25). The new interstate would make room for 38,500 vehicles and replace 46th Avenue, roundly criticized as the biggest traffic headache in the Denver Metro area.