Could Fort Collins merge with the Metro area of Denver in the future? (Aurora: homes, construction)

[1992camrysedan]

I live in Fort Collins and read that Denver expects to grow substantially this century. Will Fort Collins ever become part of the metropolitan area?

[2bindenver]

You know Evergreen used to be its own telephone exchange. People use to think it was too far away to be commutable.

How far in the future are we talking?

I do not believe Denver will be a large city (top 10) in my lifetime.

[EscapeCalifornia]

People already make the commute. But if population grows enough to make Fort Collins an exurb of Denver, traffic would be so bad as to make the drive nearly impossible. High speed commuter rail could make it doable.

[tfox]

If you mean will Fort Collins be part of the Census defined Denver-Aurora MSA, that's very unlikely. Boulder MSA is not considered part of Denver-Aurora MSA, and if that's the case now I think that it's highly likely that Fort Collins-Loveland MSA remains separate.

However, if you are asking of Fort Collins may eventually be added to a Denver-Aurora-Boulder CSA (to become, presumably Denver-Aurora-Boulder-Fort Collins CSA), then that may happen at some point but I think that will be a long way out.

Greeley MSA IS part of Denver-Aurora-Boulder CSA, but mainly because the fast-growing southwestern part of Weld County, which is technically part of Greeley CSA but really commutes to Denver MSA and Boulder MSA. The census should probably split off southwestern Weld county from Greeley and add it to either Denver MSA or Boulder MSA.

As someone else pointed out, there's simply not enough highway capacity on I-25 to have Fort Collins truly a suburb/exurb of Denver in the commuting sense, and I can't see how there ever will be. There are plans to extend 3 lanes in each direction up to Fort Collins (the CDOT North Forty Project) but that project was at least a decade from completion even before the economy nixed new highway construction. (Currently, the three lanes stop at Longmont exit 243 and go to two lanes). The traffic on I-25 is very bad with today's traffic numbers, and it's going to get much worse in the future with growth along that corridor, particularly in the southwestern part of Weld County.

Honestly, I think in the future I-25 north will likely be LESS commutable to Denver, not more., based on population growth. I can't see too much commuting being practical north of about the Larimer/Weld county line.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by 1992camrysedan

I live in Fort Collins and read that Denver expects to grow substantially this century. Will Fort Collins ever become part of the metropolitan area?

Of course it will. Its just a matter of time before you will be able to drive from Cheyenne to Pueblo and never leave an urban area. I-25 will be 10, 12, 14 lanes wide. Traffic will be at a standstill 18 hrs. a day. Average commute times will be an hour and a half to two and a half hours. There will be lots of light rail and commuter rail, which will be totally inadequate to cover the entire area. The air quality will be 2x, 3x worse. Just look at LA for examples of what the front range will be like in the future.

The only thing that could prevent it from happening, would be Colorado adapting an anti-growth policy of urban growth boundaries. I don't see that ever happening, and if it does it will be way too late to stop it anyway.

[1992camrysedan]

I heard about a monorail around fort collins alittle while back. I just don't want to be a small town person, I'd rather be somebody living in a big metropolitan area.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by 1992camrysedan

I heard about a monorail around fort collins alittle while back. I just don't want to be a small town person, I'd rather be somebody living in a big metropolitan area.

Why are people in small cities always trying to turn their city into a big city? Not everyone want to live in a huge city. If you do, move to one.

[tfox]

There is no monorail, but there has been talk about a front range commuter rail system, something similar to the New Mexico Rail Runner commuter rail. In the very long term, I think there probably will be commuter rail up and down the front range (perhaps from Fort Collins to Pueblo). But that's likely decades away -- the bad economy I think has iced all such proposals for the time being.

[new2colo]

No, the MSA of Denver actually shrunk in size when Boulder was removed. Even though quite a few people in Fort Collins work in Denver, it seems that the census is hesitant to combine Denver, Boulder, Greeley, and Fort Collins all in one official metropolitan area. Development from Denver to Fort Collins isn't really continuous either. It seems that the Denver area has a defined urban boundary where the suburbs basically just stop and turn into farmland and rural lands.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

Of course it will. Its just a matter of time before you will be able to drive from Cheyenne to Pueblo and never leave an urban area. I-25 will be 10, 12, 14 lanes wide. Traffic will be at a standstill 18 hrs. a day. Average commute times will be an hour and a half to two and a half hours. There will be lots of light rail and commuter rail, which will be totally inadequate to cover the entire area. The air quality will be 2x, 3x worse. Just look at LA for examples of what the front range will be like in the future.

The only thing that could prevent it from happening, would be Colorado adapting an anti-growth policy of urban growth boundaries. I don't see that ever happening, and if it does it will be way too late to stop it anyway.

Colorado already seems to have very aggressive urban growth boundary regulations. If you travel to Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Atlanta, or Las Vegas you will see how the surburbs NEVER end. You will enter an area that looks like it rural only to be greeted by a large strip mall, homes where if you stick your head out of your window you'll be in your neighbors kitchen, and roads that are in the process of being doubled in width.

Driving around the Front Range, with the exception of Greeley, I have not seen that type of developing occurring.