DENVER – The last lawsuit pending against the project to widen I-70 through much of Denver is now settled.
The Colorado Department of Transportation officially agreed to the settlement Thursday, after months of negotiating.
“We’re really excited to finally finalize the settlement agreement, so we can move forward with the project and community commitments,” said the Central 70 Project’s Stacia Sellers.
The Elyria-Swansea and Chaffee Park neighborhood associations, along with the Sierra Club and the Colorado Latino Forum filed the suit against the government last summer. They were concerned about pollution from four years of construction.
Now, the settlement has three major conclusions.
There are now four air monitoring stations throughout the construction area. Soon, they’ll provide readings every year and will be available to see in real-time online.
Also, new landscaping will be installed in the neighborhoods affected.
Plus, CDOT will spend $550,000 for a community health study.
“Which is a big deal,” said Drew Dutcher, the president of the Elyria-Swansea Neighborhood Association. “This is a very thorough study of sources of adverse health effects, pollution and it should give our leaders information.”