Fredrick and Firestone are Weld County hotbeds for population growth. Many Denver people are looking to move out of the city and Fredrick is a perfect option. One of the side effects of this growth is the increased traffic flow to Denver. To help alleviate congestion Weld County wanted to expand WCR 7 to four lanes through St. Vrain State Park. The city of Fredrick opposed this change and annexed the park to stop the road construction.

The most amusing part of this whole article is the comments of Weld County Commissioner, Mike Gile.

Firestone’s action negates the county’s plans to expand Weld 7, county commissioner Mike Geile said.

“(The annexation) takes away the option to look at a future arterial that will be needed, and we’re confused as to why that’s their intention,” Geile said.

The County Commisioners are ‘confused’? Confused? They don’t understand why routing traffic through a State Park might be a bad thing? I’m no environmentalist, but this still makes perfect sense. We have hundreds of acres of farmland in Weld County and they want to build a road through a State Park? Should be a no-brainer.

If the Weld County Commisioners want my advise (and I’m sure they don’t), maybe they should try a different tactic. Rather than increasing traffic into Denver, perhaps they should focus on

1. Improving public transportation so there are fewer cars on the road
2. Increasing economic growth in Weld County so those of us that have professional level skills don’t have to commute to Denver.

Fortunately the Fredrick city officials are a little less shortsighted than our County Commisioners.