Metro Growth: The hidden cost of urban sprawl

By Luke Zarzecki

Drive along the interstate into Colorado from its eastern side and the rolling plains slowly transform into vast hills of lights. 

Shelley Cook, a former director with the Regional Transportation District and a former Arvada councilor, moved to the city in 1983. Back then, those lights weren't as bright.

"(I moved) back when Olde Town was that sleepy little place and property values were cheap," she said.

Over the decades, Denver and the cities and towns that surround it have grown together,  absorbing wide open spaces in all directions. Every decade for almost a century, the region's growth rate has outpaced the national average, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, and prices did too. 

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This story is from Colorado Community Media. CBS News Colorado is a newsgathering partner with CCM, a network of two dozen newspapers and online publications serving eight metro-area counties on the Front Range.