Two Arapahoe County commissioners have appealed their case to block construction of the E-470 highway to the Colorado Supreme Court.
The appeal is the last legal hurdle to building the final 30 miles of the highway from the southern Denver suburbs to Denver International Airport northeast of the city.
The commissioners object to the route that the highway would take and to the way in which the highway was financed. About $650 million in revenue bonds sits in escrow waiting to be remarketed when the money is needed to complete the road. About $60 million has been spent to build the first five miles of the road. The bonds are backed by toll revenues.
The E-470 Authority, which operates the road, won its case against the commissioners in district court and the Colorado Court of Appeals. The state supreme court is now considering whether to hear the case.
The authority has issued a $312 million contract to build the 30-mile stretch beginning Sept. 1. The rest of the $650 million will go toward capitalized interest and reserve funds. If construction begins this fall, the road will be complete early in 1997, said Richard Fontane, senior vice president at George K. Baum & Co. in Denver.
Baum was the co-senior manager along with Lehman Brothers on the revenue bond issue.
Fontane said the authority hopes to get an expedited decision by the state supreme court because the money is set aside in the form of tender option bonds that mature every six months. Ideally, he said, the bonds would be remarketed when they next come due on Aug. 31.
The underwriters will begin working immediately on the financing plan if the court rejects the appeal, Fontane said.
In a related development, the Transportation Commission of Colorado agreed last week to lend $20 million to the E-470 Authority toward building the last 30 miles of the highway. The loan is being supplemented by $17.5 million in loans from six other counties located along the road. The loans help build investor confidence in the project, Fontane said.
