The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that the ramp from northbound Interstate 25 to Crossroads Boulevard will be completely closed from 7 a.m. Monday until 5 p.m. Friday, weather permitting, as part of the ongoing construction at this interchange.

The Colorado Department of Transportation will close southbound Interstate 25 through Trinidad on Sunday night, Feb. 28, for construction of the adjacent bridge over the Purgatoire River. Beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28, southbound I-25 will be closed at Colorado Avenue (Exit 14B). Traffic will detour west to Colorado Avenue, south on Nevada Avenue to Santa Fe Trail, returning to I-25 at Exit 11. Southbound I-25 will reopen to traffic by 6 a.m. on Monday, March 1.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that construction has begun on the $8.5 million redesigned interchange of Interstate 25 and U.S. 34 in Loveland. New Design Construction Co. of Denver is expected to take 10 months to complete the work.

CDOT Press Release

Last week, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) completed the first phase of the bridge replacement project at I-25 and 104th Avenue. With the northern portion of the new bridge now complete, westbound 104th Avenue has been realigned to the north and construction is starting on the center portion of the new bridge this week with bridge demolition.

“A third of the new bridge is now complete so it is time to demolish the center portion of the existing bridge and construct the center portion of the new bridge,” said CDOT Resident Engineer John Schwab. “To complete the bridge demolition, we will completely close I-25 near 104th Avenue over the next three nights. We strongly encourage motorists to seek alternate routes as there will be major delays.”

The bridge demolition will take place Tuesday, January 5th through Thursday, January 7th. Each night, all lanes of northbound and southbound I-25 near 104th Avenue will be closed at 9 p.m. and will reopen by 5:30 a.m. the following day. During the full closure of I-25, motorists will be detoured via the on and off ramps at 104th Avenue. No left turns onto 104th Avenue will be allowed during the closure. Uniformed traffic control will be used to direct motorists through the interchange.

Major delays are expected 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.”

The existing 104th Avenue bridge over I-25 was originally constructed in 1962 and is one of Colorado’s structurally deficient bridges. When complete, the new bridge will accommodate an additional left turn lane from eastbound 104th Avenue to northbound I-25. For more information on the project visit http://www.coloradodot.info/projects/I25104th.

Hamon Contractors, Inc. is the contractor for this $6.5 million project scheduled to be complete by the end of September 2010. CDOT is funding the bridge replacement and the Northglenn Urban Renewal Authority (NURA) is funding the aesthetic improvements which will include upgraded bridge rail and upgraded bridge lighting similar to the existing lighting on the 112th Avenue overpass bridge. Aesthetic improvements also include cornerstone monuments at the four ends of the bridge and “Northglenn” monument signage mounted to an upgraded retaining wall.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that recent dry weather has helped work progress smoothly on two Interstate 25 interchange projects.

Crews have started pouring concrete for new ramps at I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard, and pre-construction site work has begun for work just south at the I-25 interchange at U.S. 34.

Go to the Loveland Reporter-Herald to see the entire story.

Roadgeeks like to name things.

Today we’re going to try to hang a name on something.

I’m proposing that we give a household name to the interchange in the Denver Tech Center where Interstate 225 dumps into Interstate 25. I say we call it the Full House. That’s the name that fellow roadgeek Duncan Shaw, a news producer at CBS4 Denver, proposed for it in 2001.

Read more to see why…

The concept of commuter rail service from Fort Collins to Denver might be a popular idea but it could be more than six decades in the making, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports.

A draft plan aimed at improving mobility along the North Front Range and Interstate 25 corridor in the years to come calls for about $2.6 billion in transportation projects, including establishing commuter rail and bus service and widening the interstate.

The improvements would be built in systematic phases, depending on the availability of funding, officials say.

But that could mean bus service from Greeley to Denver envisioned by the plan wouldn’t be a reality until 2035, and rail service from Fort Collins to Denver wouldn’t happen until 2075.

Go to the Coloradoan to see the entire article.

Dozens of drivers crashed this weekend in Colorado Springs on an icy I-25 overpass with a built-in road de-icer. I-25 at South Nevada/Tejon has an automatic de-icing system meant to stay ahead of winter weather. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation that system failed Saturday morning, when a major pileup closed the interstate, reports KRDO Channel 13 News.

“The system showed that it had discharged 10 times starting fairly early in the morning,” said CDOT Highway Maintenance Supervisor Gary Heller. “The sensor evaluates the roadway temperature, whether there’s moisture on it and then whether we’re starting to lose friction on the road because of ice. It will continue to fire until it no longer senses the loss of friction on there.”

While the computer system thought the 1,000-foot bridge was being de-iced, one of the 34 de-icer nozzle valves remained open, keeping the other valves from putting out magnesium chloride.

“The computer thought it was doing what it was supposed to be doing.”

Go to KRDO.com Channel 13 News for the entire article.

Local governments are competing with projects across the country, hoping to get a piece of a $1.5 billion pot to rebuild the .

Fort Collins, Windsor and the Colorado Department of Transportation together applied for $27 million to widen the CO 392 bridge over Interstate 25, add turn lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks, and realign the frontage road, the Loveland Reporter-Herald reports.

“It’s a very competitive grant,” said Rick Richter, Fort Collins engineering and capital projects manager.

Each state is capped at $300 million, and the Colorado Department of Transportation is a party to seven such applications, including the one for the Windsor interchange. If the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant is approved, work likely would begin next summer.

Got to the Loveland Reporter-Herald for the entire article.

Ground will be broken Thursday for one phase of interchange improvements at Interstate 25 and Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland, according to a story in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. The $6.9 million job is funded in part with $3 million in federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It widens the access ramps and replaces stop signs at the exit ramps and Crossroads with roundabouts.