Denver-Boulder turnpike
The Denver-Boulder Turnpike
The Denver-Boulder highway near this marker stands as a memorial to those men of vision who brought it into existence.
Planning for such a highway was begun in 1927 by Professor Roderick L. Downing, whose University engineering students later surveyed the route it follows. Professor Downing pressed for construction of the highway over a period of more than 20 years. He also made many other contributions to good highway planning in Colorado.
Many others too numerous to mention worked to make the Turnpike a reality. The Highway Committee of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce began to advocate such a road in 1941. Following World War II, a Boulder-Denver direct route committee was formed. Its members overcame various obstructions and doubts about toll financing.
The $6.3 million in bonds were authorized in July 1950. The highway opened as the Denver-Boulder Turnpike in January 1952, the first highway of its kind in Colorado and before the Interstate Highways which resemble it.
The bonded indebtedness was repaid 13 years ahead of schedule, and the route opened as a free public highway in September 1967.
Attached to this monument is the cornerstone from the Broomfield tollhouse of the turnpike.
submitted by John Bradley JEB