CDOT Press Release

The Colorado Department of Transportation will reach a major milestone in the replacement of the Interstate 76 bridges over CO 224 and the Union Pacific Railroad between mileposts 7.653 and 8.693, by installing bridge girders for the new structures tonight through Thursday, weather permitting.

The girder installation will require the following closures:

Westbound I-76: Tonight through Thursday, one lane of westbound I-76 from milepost 7.7 to 8.7, near CO 224, will be closed starting at 7 p.m. with all lanes closing at 9 p.m. All lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. the following day. Detour: Motorists on westbound I-76 will exit at 88th Avenue and take the frontage road to CO 224, 74th Avenue. Once on CO 224, turn right, west, and take the ramp back to westbound I-76.

CO 224: Wednesday and Thursday, all lanes of CO 224 will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Detour: Motorists on westbound CO 224 will turn right onto Dahlia Street where they will travel up to the frontage road and turn left. They will take the frontage road back to CO 224. Motorists on eastbound CO 224 will be taken off CO 224 and directed to the frontage road where they will turn left. They will take the frontage road to Dahlia Street and turn right to rejoin CO 224.

Eastbound I-76: On Thursday, all lanes of eastbound I-76 will close at midnight. All lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. on Friday. Detour: Motorists on eastbound I-76 will exit at CO 224 (74th Avenue) and stay to the right to take CO 224 to US 85/US 6. Turn left onto US 85/US 6 and continue north to rejoin eastbound I-76.

Major delays are expected all three nights and alternate routes are strongly advised. CDOT would like to remind motorists to obey all traffic signs and flaggers and to “Slow for the Cone Zone.” Fines will be doubled for most infractions that occur in a work zone.

SEMA Construction of Centennial is the contactor for this $11 million project funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The entire project is scheduled to be complete by January 2011.

In all, Colorado will receive more than $400 million for transportation projects and $103 million for transit projects. For more information about how Colorado is putting the recovery act to work, visit www.colorado.gov/recovery. For a list of CDOT’s Recovery Act projects, visit www.dot.state.co.us/arra.