This post is unedited from the 2018 election to show Barry Wilson follows through and does what he says he is going to do.

County Road 13 (CR-13) is becoming one of the main roads in Windsor. 70% of District 2 residents live along the CR-13 corridor which separates Weld and Larimer Counties. Residents of over one thousand District 2 households travel CR-13 on a regular basis. For many of us, it is the ONLY road in and out of our neighborhoods.

The RainDance development is planning to add 2,792 homes. RainDance will have over double the number of homes as River West, Ridge West, Bison Ridge, HighPointe Estates, and Steeplechase COMBINED. It will triple the number of residents living on the CR-13 corridor. RainDance will obviously have a huge impact on CR-13 traffic which is already a route for a gravel pit / concrete plant, oil & gas operations, the Poudre River trail-head, and 1,000+ households of District-2 residents. The Best-Way Concrete Company is also expanding and the Thornton Water Project (TWP) pipeline will be installed.

The CR-13 situation must be monitored closely so appropriate improvements and expansions can be made as needed. As of now, CR-13 is planned to be resurfaced in 2019.

There is a misconception that Larimer and/or Weld Counties are responsible for CR-13 between HW-392 and Crossroads. I met with the Larimer County Principal Planner, Matt Lafferty, on February 15th to discuss the Thornton Water Project (TWP) and the proposed pipeline along the east side of CR-13. Larimer County was clear that CR-13 repairs, improvements, and expansions are the Town of Windsor’s responsibility, not Weld or Larimer County’s responsibility.

On March 5th, I attended a Town Board Work Session where Chief Planner, Scott Ballstadt, reviewed the Roadway Improvement Plan Prioritization.  Keeping up with the tremendous growth is a challenge. Scott and his staff truly care about Windsor and are an asset to our community. There we 21 projects listed as near-term and long-term projects. Unfortunately, CR-13 was not on this list. I was given an opportunity to speak in the meeting and voiced my concerns about CR-13 not being on the list. I also provided reasons why it should be on the list. Several people agreed that CR-13 should be considered and that the prioritization of projects was still underway. Dean Wagner, Director of Engineering, was clear that the Town Board represents the residents of Windsor and makes the final decision on which projects are on the list and the priority of those projects. He said it’s the Town Board’s role to know where residents feel the most pain. I do not think that CR-13 should be the town’s top priority or even in the Top 10, but we should have a seat at the table. If elected, I would advocate for CR-13 improvements and expansion to 4 lanes. I will make sure it is prioritized appropriately in the Town of Windsor’s Master Plan. 

The main challenge of CR-13 are the narrow, 2-lane bridge which does not support pedestrian or bicycle traffic and the road north of the bridge that may need to be built up to avoid future flooding. Dennis Wagner, Director of Engineering, stated on March 5th that there may be more options available to address this stretch of road as it is no longer designated as a floodplain by FEMA.

I will always advocate for pedestrian and bicycle lanes when expansions and improvements are made.

Windsor has already budgeted for road projects based on growth and other factors. Therefore, I am not proposing huge spending increases. I am proposing that CR-13 be prioritized appropriately compared to other projects. The residents of District 2 pay taxes. When warranted, I want to see funds reinvested back into District 2. When it comes to CR-13, the investment is warranted and I will fight for it.

As District 2 representative, I would advocate for improvements to the CR-13 and HW-392 intersection, similar to the planned improvements at CR-5 and HW-392. Windsor recently increased the Road Impact Fee to fund these types of improvement projects. We could also partner with the State of Colorado for the funding since it is a state highway:

  • Northbound CR-13 currently lacks a left turning lane at HW-392. Therefore, one car waiting to turn left can back-up traffic for a long distance during peak times.
  • It is also difficult to merge from northbound CR-13 onto eastbound HW-392. Therefore, we should consider expanding eastbound HW-392 to 2 lanes from CR-13 into the west end of Windsor, eliminating the need to merge.

Without action, CR-13 traffic will go from bad to worse. I am committed to keep the CR-13 improvements and expansion on the Master Plan with an appropriate priority and timeline to keep up with the projected growth. We know the traffic is coming. We can proactively prepare for it! 

We need leadership that will advocate for our needs. If you want to keep CR-13 flowing and keep up with growth, you should vote for Barry Wilson on or before April 3rd!