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E-470

E-470 is a 46-mile (74-km) limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority.

Route description

The tollway begins at the I-25 / SH 470 interchange in Lone Tree and runs east and north through Aurora, intersecting with I-70. The highway continues north, passing west of Denver International Airport to connect with I-76 in Brighton and Commerce City before curving west and ending at an interchange with I-25 and the Northwest Parkway in Thornton.

The 470 Beltway

E-470 is the eastern portion of what was originally conceived as I-470, an outer beltway for metropolitan Denver. Plans for this eastern extension of State Highway 470 gained momentum in the 1980s, as Denver moved forward with plans for a new international airport in its corridor. Recognizing the highway's development potential, a number of local governments joined together to create the E-470 Public Highway Authority, a quasi-governmental entity that would construct the highway. The highway would be financed through tolls, a relative rarity in the western U.S. The first section, between I-25 in the south and Parker Road in Douglas County, opened in 1991. The highway was opened segment by segment until the final stretch connecting to I-25 in the north in Adams County opened for traffic in 2003.

The toll rate on E-470, roughly 18 cents per mile, is one of the highest rates of any toll road in the United States. E-470 was the first highway in the United States to implement full highway-speed electronic tolling. In its early years, traffic was light as the completed portion was short and traversed a largely undeveloped area. With the opening of Denver International Airport in 1995, E-470 came into its own as a direct route to the airport from the rapidly growing southern tier of the metropolitan area. Upon its completion, the highway provided the same access for northern Colorado, itself a high-growth area. However, perhaps the most significant growth in the region will occur in the E-470 corridor itself, which spawned numerous annexations by member cities; Commerce City has doubled in land area in anticipation of this new development. In the coming decades, 250,000 new residents are expected along the E-470 corridor in Aurora alone, which would nearly double that city's population.

Ownership and management

The E-470 Public Highway Authority consists of eight member jurisdictions: Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties and the cities of Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City, Thornton, and the town of Parker. In addition to all of these jurisdictions, E-470 also passes through the City and County of Denver near Denver International Airport. Affiliate, non-voting members of the Authority, which the highway does not directly serve, are the cities of Arvada and Greeley, and Weld County and the City and County of Broomfield. Ex-officio members are the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Regional Transportation District. The authority is headquartered in Aurora.

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Douglas	Lone Tree	0.000	1A		South end of E-470; continues west as SH 470
	Meridian		1B	Jamaica Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1.711	2	Peoria Street – Centennial Airport
		2.700	Meridian Toll Plaza
	Stonegate	3.502	3	Chambers Road
	Stonegate	4.380	4	Jordan Road
	Parker	5.180	5
Arapahoe	Aurora	8.887	9	Gartrell Road
		10.683	10	Smoky Hill Road
		13.352	13	Quincy Avenue – Aurora
		16.150	South Aurora Toll Plaza
		16.451	16	Jewell Avenue
		19.000	19	6th Parkway
		20.375		Colfax Avenue	At-grade intersection
			20
Adams			20
		22.610	North Aurora Toll Plaza
		24.477	24	56th Avenue – Front Range Airport
		25.523	25	64th Avenue
Denver		27.849	28	Peña Boulevard – Denver International Airport	Signed as exits 28A (east) and 28B (west)
Adams	Commerce City	30.562	31	96th Avenue
		32.678	32	104th Avenue
		34.130	34	120th Avenue to I-76 west
		35.491	35		Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Brighton	35.491	35		Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		38.465	38
		40.220	Brighton Toll Plaza
		43.817	43	Colorado Boulevard
		44.843	45	York Street
	Thornton	46.398 46.950	47		North end of E-470; continues west as Northwest Parkway