Jeffco business leaders want beltway link, but Golden fears a great divide.

• Position: TRANSPORTATION - Brief article

Should transportation improvements be fueled by the need to ease congestion or to encourage development? The battle to complete the beltway around metro Denver raises that question.

The Northwest Corridor of C-470 ends at the 1-70 interchange in Golden and resumes just north of Superior. Completing the beltway would generate more than $17 billion in economic activity in Jefferson County over the next 20 years, according to a study commissioned by the Jefferson Economic Council.

That's about twice as much as without the roadway, says the JEC, which commissioned Development Research Group to complete the study. The report does not endorse a specific plan but underscores the project's importance to the county's job-housing balance, says Preston Gibson, JEC president.

Finishing the road would double the number of high-paying jobs coming to Jefferson County, which has about 100,000 more working residents than employment opportunities in the county, the business group says.

To complete the beltway, business and county leaders will have to find a route that would be acceptable to the city of Golden, which has objected to plans for a...