Colorado RAMP Funds Approved

[The High Plains Traveler]

Colorado DOT has awarded about $1.2 billion in RAMP (Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships) funds that will allow major projects statewide to begin. From my standpoint, the biggest winner is Pueblo County, with $108 million in funding. Historically, this area is always on the short end of highway funding, as evidenced by the age of I-25 as discussed below.

This money will allow work to begin on the reconstruction of I-25 through Pueblo - a project that will ultimately widen the highway to three lanes each way through the city. This is the oldest urban stretch of I-25 that has not undergone reconstruction; the southernmost part of the highway was originally constructed in 1956, and the road was completed through the city in 1964. The first part of the project won't actually widen the interstate, but will reconstruct six bridges (some dating back to 1958), rebuild about 1/2 mile of highway, and reconstruct a very awkwardly designed interchange where U.S. 50 Business route turns east. There will also be resurfacing of the highway north of Pueblo.

Some of the funding will also go to adding a third lane on U.S. 50 from Pueblo to the first intersection in Pueblo West. Strangely, it will be only on the eastbound ("inbound") side of the highway.

Part of the agreement is that the city or county will receive some "devolved" state routes, as their local share of the project costs. I don't know what routes are identified to be devolved, though I suspect that because part of the funding is to resurface CO-96 from CO-45 to downtown (Thatcher and Lincoln Avenues and 4th St.), that piece of 96 will be devolved to the city. If I see a list of routes to be devolved I'll add it to this topic. That would add one more to Colorado's many discontinuous routes.

[thenetwork]

Also as part of the RAMP funding, CO-13 in Rifle will "officially" be decommissioned through Rifle on Railroad Avenue.  Technically, CO-13 still runs through Downtown Rifle, but has been mostly unsigned for years. 

So officially, CO-13 will be rerouted along the well-signed CO-13 "Truck Route", which is the current northwest bypass around Rifle via a small section of US-6.


Also, in Colorado I-70 news:  The I-70/US-6/US-50/BL-70 diverging diamond interchange (the first in Colorado) is nearing completion.  Concrete has been poured for most of the mainline BL-70/US-6 & 50 lanes with the new on & off merge ramps to/from I-70 left to be done.  All of this is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

I work around the corner from this project and people still think I don't know what I'm talking about when I try to describe the DDI, and how you will be driving on the "wrong side of the road" for a few hundred feet.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I requested information from CDOT about the routes that would be devolved as part of the local match for the RAMP funding, and the list is much less extensive than I thought it would be. CDOT will devolve CO-227 (Joplin Avenue) to the city of Pueblo and CO-233 (Baxter Road) to Pueblo County. These are both short routes (maybe two miles long) that connect U.S. 50 Business with CO-96 and/or U.S. 50. The turnbacks will include responsibility for the Arkansas River bridges. Except for the additional lane on U.S. 50 eastbound, the intersection with Pueblo Blvd. (CO-45) will not be significantly modified at this time. There are future plans for this intersection that include construction of new westbound lanes adjacent to the eastbound ones and ultimately construction of a diverging diamond interchange - with the crossovers on U.S. 50.