Proposal for New Dam North of Fort Collins

A proposal is under consideration for the construction of a new dam that would fill a seven mile long valley creating a reservoir and necessitating relocation of US highway 287 to the east by several miles. The Glade Dam would cost in excess of $500 million and basically would end most of the flows of the Cache La Poudre River through Fort Collins. The river itself would have to be partially rerouted to fill and create the the new reservoir and keep it filled. It would meet the annual water needs of 40,000 new households in the Larimer County area, but this only about one-half at best of the expected growth to occur by 2035. There will be a lot of opposition to this proposal of a project of this magnitude on a number of grounds, which very well may prevent the project from ever being undertaken. US Hwy 287 cuts down the center of this narrow thin valley which this writer has traveled through on numerous occasions from Colorado to Wyoming several miles north of Fort Collins. A new replacement road would be built to the east on the other side of the hills and might even include a tunnel or a construction project to carry the new roadway through the escarpment of the hills themselves. In addition, this road has been and continues to be utilized heavily by semi-truck traffic which has made the current road inadequate and unsafe. Plans are underway to widen the Wyoming stretch of US 287 from a two lane road to a four lane highway with a natural median separating the two directions of traffic: this a 25 mile stretch of road which will take the better part of a decade to be completed according to plans currently. If a new road is built in Colorado, a similar upgrade would be ideal, perhaps to even include construction of the long planned and envisioned bypass highway routing US 287 to I-25 from going through Fort Collins itself. The current US 287 runs through and near downtown Fort Collins which is an enormous inconvenience and nuisance for local residents. A realization of a new bypass road would be greatly welcomed by Fort Collins citizens and businesses, but how this new road could be paid for is still unclear, like the dam project itself at this point. Look for this proposal never to get past just that.

http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/03/23/news/breaking/doc47e6de4f70791451018712.txt

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8664957

*****