Erie’s transportation staff to deliver intersection gaps and solutions after 4–6 months of modeling

Town transportation staff briefed the council March 4 on the Transportation Mobility Plan (TMP) and near‑term modeling work to identify intersection, signal and multimodal priorities.

"A lot of the information for transportation is born from land‑use details," said John Ferruzzi, manager of Transportation, Mobility and Public Works, explaining how comp‑plan assumptions convert to trip generation and roadway volume forecasts. Ferruzzi said staff are building both a town‑wide model and an operational Synchro model and that the team expects roughly four to six months of analysis before returning with prioritized solutions.

Ferruzzi showed a candidate list of intersection projects, roundabouts and signal upgrades derived from 2050 build‑out forecasts and volume‑to‑capacity ratios. He noted staff are trying to keep regional traffic on regional arterials and local traffic on neighborhood streets while building strategies to manage growth.

On a specific project, staff said a development agreement amendment has been proposed that would fund 75 percent of a planned traffic signal at Airport Road and Colorado Highway 7, with a proposed 25 percent town match included in the developer’s DA amendment. Ferruzzi also summarized earlier conceptual work on a more direct Arapahoe→CO‑7 connector and cautioned that floodplain, airport property and land acquisition make that connection costly; an earlier estimate of $8–10 million has risen to a likely $20–30 million today.

Council asked for a short list of the town’s most pressing intersection problems before staff present proposed solutions so they can better communicate timing and funding to residents. Ferruzzi agreed to return with identified gaps, recommended fixes and an implementation/prioritization timeline.