8.  Northeast Fort Collins Truck Route Project

In 1997, the citizens of Fort Collins voted for the relocation of the Mulberry Street/SH 14 truck route as part of the Building Community Choices projects. The Northeast Fort Collins Truck Route Project team identified and evaluated 21 different alternatives; 18 within the city and three outside of the city in northern Larimer County. Alternative routes internal to the city included a Modified Vine Alignment, upgraded “current” Vine Drive alignment, a Downtown Area one-way couplet design, and combined routes utilizing portions of Mulberry Street, Timberline Road, Lemay Avenue, and Vine Drive. Routes considered outside of the city included Douglas Road, County Road 58, and a combined route utilizing County Road 70, County Road 72, and Owl Canyon Road.

Alternatives were analyzed and processed through a three-tier evaluation system. Tier 1 involved a Fatal Flaw Analysis, Tier 2 was a Preliminary Alternatives Analysis, and Tier 3 was a Detailed Alternatives Analysis. Tier 2 Preliminary Alternatives Analysis reduced the list to 12 potential scenarios. Following the Tier 3 Detailed Alternatives Analysis Phase, those 12 alternatives were further reduced to four. Subsequent to the presentation of these four alternatives, two additional alternatives were identified for consideration, the County Road 58 Alternative and the Downtown Couplet Alternative.

Route alternatives identified north of the city were eliminated from consideration due to concerns about cost, additional length to routes, environmental impacts, and limited use by trucks and motor vehicles. Route alternatives examined during the Tier 3 Detailed Alternatives Analysis phase were evaluated based on 20 criteria that dealt with cost, performance, and impacts. Conceptual-level engineering plans were also prepared for these four alternatives.

The four final alternatives presented for Tier 4 Detailed Analysis included:

• Modified Vine alignment: This alternative assumed the route would begin at a new interchange at I-25 and Vine Drive, proceed west along Vine Drive to east of Lemay Avenue, continue northwest around the Alta Vista neighborhood and connect with North College Avenue at Conifer Street.

• Mulberry/Lemay/Vine alignment: This alternative stays on existing Mulberry Street to the Lemay Avenue intersection. At this point, it proceeds north on Lemay Avenue to north of Vine Drive, and then continues west to North College Avenue at Conifer Street.

• Mulberry/Timberline/Vine alignment: This alternative begins at the Mulberry Street/I-25 Interchange, follows the existing Mulberry Street Corridor to Timberline Road. At this point it continues north on Timberline Road to Vine Drive. At Vine Drive, the route continues northwest on the new Vine Drive alignment identified in the Modified Vine alternative.

• Existing Vine Drive alignment: This alternative assumes the use of a widened Vine Drive from I-25 to North College Avenue.

Tier 4 Evaluation of these four alternatives resulted in the recommendation of the Modified Vine Route and the Existing Vine Drive Alternatives as the top two feasible alternatives. These two alternatives generated great controversy among neighborhoods near the Vine Drive area, as well as those interests who contended that the best truck route alternatives lie outside of the City of Fort Collins.

A resolution to adopt the Modified Vine Drive alignment as the preferred alternative truck route was not approved by the Fort Collins City Council by a four-to-three vote. A subsequent proposition that the Modified Vine Route be adopted not as a relocation of SH 14 but as a Major Regional Arterial was also not adopted by the Fort Collins City Council. Ultimately, the Modified Vine Alignment was amended to the city Master Street Plan as a future four-lane arterial roadway. The Modified Vine Alignment is shown in Figure 7.