Idaho Springs Visioning Workshop
The community of Idaho Springs approached CDOT to work collaboratively on creating a shared vision for transportation through Idaho Springs. In addition, Idaho Springs was identified as an Area of Special Attention by the I-70 Mountain Corridor CSS Aesthetic Working Group. To achieve the community’s and CDOT’s need to plan for this section of the I-70 Mountain Corridor, Idaho Springs and CDOT worked together to hold a Visioning Workshop. A Project Leadership Team (PLT), made up of the following members, developed an approach to defining the future vision for transportation in Idaho Springs:
- Mary Jane Loevlie, Member of the I-70 Mountain Corridor Collaborative Effort
- Cindy Olson, Former Mayor
- Kevin O’Malley, Clear Creek County Commissioner
- Jack Morgan, Mayor
- Bill Macy, Former Mayor
- Dan Ebert, Idaho Springs Business Owner
- Peter Kozinski, Colorado Department of Transportation
- The Authors of the Context Sensitive Solutions Guidance
The PLT met three times to clarify the desired outcomes and plan the logistics for the visioning workshop. The PLT acknowledged that changes will be made along the I-70 Mountain Corridor in the future and that it is important for Idaho Springs to develop a preferred vision for how the improvements should interface with the town. The visioning process is intended to build a partnership between CDOT and the Idaho Springs community, and coordinate with I-70 Mountain Corridor PEIS and Consensus Recommendation. The visioning workshop was held on October 13-14, 2009 in Idaho Springs at the Elks Club. The workshop was structured to engage broad representation from the community and meet the following goals:
- Capture community values and a vision to guide the future transportation system in Idaho Springs
- Develop and document strategies, approaches, and concepts that can be advanced into feasibility studies, preliminary design, or Tier 2 environmental documents so that the local planning studies are completed in advance of any corridor wide changes.
During the workshop, participants reviewed an historic timeline that captured the history of Idaho Springs from its founding to today; discussed global, regional and local trends that will impact the future; identified those things that make Idaho Springs unique from the other places on the corridor and are valued by the community; and considered four different scenarios to test what they liked and did not like about different alignments and treatments of I-70, AGS, Clear Creek, and community related transportation elements. From this discussion, the participants were able to articulate the community values that should drive future solutions and some initial steps to begin moving toward a preferred future.
