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I-70 Central Project in Northeast Denver

Started by usends, May 02, 2012, 07:21:18 PM

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roadfro

Quote from: zzcarp on July 27, 2021, 07:40:28 PM
CDOT's Facebook page has several pictures of the viaduct demolition which is proceeding relatively quickly.
When I was in Denver earlier this month, I had forgotten about this project until driving through the construction zone. It seemed like they were making great progress.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.


Plutonic Panda


roadman65

I see in GSV the new westbound freeway is open for both east and west I-70 as it was filmed in July 2021. It shows also the old viaduct being dismantled, so I assume the new EB lanes will be put in its place then.
https://www.codot.gov/projects/i70east

I see the CDOT website has interesting information about this Central 70 Project.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

zzcarp

Quote from: roadman65 on November 17, 2021, 12:04:34 AM
I see in GSV the new westbound freeway is open for both east and west I-70 as it was filmed in July 2021. It shows also the old viaduct being dismantled, so I assume the new EB lanes will be put in its place then.
https://www.codot.gov/projects/i70east

I see the CDOT website has interesting information about this Central 70 Project.
That's great that it's now shown in streetview! Yes, the new roadway opened back in May (some of my pictures from then are here).

They've completed the viaduct demolition and are working to excavate the eastbound lanes. I'll try to get some pictures the next time I'm in the area in daylight.
So many miles and so many roads

thenetwork

Through a series of unfortunate events, I wound up flying to DIA yesterday.  Unfortunately my Denver co-worker took E-470 to our Warehouse in Westminster.  Wouldve been nice to see as I didn't have to drive.

zzcarp

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to be in the neighborhood of the project at sundown. It was difficult to access the area of E 45th Avenue and Garfield Boulevard. With the road closures around, I had to access the site from a temporary roadway at the Colorado Boulevard and I-70 offramp. On the way back, I took some sundown pictures heading west on E 46th North Avenue from Colorado Boulevard to past York Street.


Here you see the new Cook Street overpass. You can see the depressed I-70 lanes and the nearly completed grading for the future eastbound lanes.


Westbound approaching the Steele Street/Vasquez Boulevard intersection. Notice under the left turn signals and behind the white truck is the Purina plant, a landmark from which the I-70 viaduct used to be just feet away.


At the Vasquez Blvd./"To Steele Street" intersection. US 6-85, which independently goes north from here on Vasquez and joins I-70 straight ahead, are conspicuously absent from signage at the intersection. I didn't even see a reassurance shield when I had headed north to 48th Avenue during the quest for my job site.


A stormwater detention basin at the northeast corner of 46th North and Vasquez (which runs on the left side of the photo).


Now at Clayton Street which is also the beginning of the covered section of I-70. The Purina plant grows closer.


Just past Clayton, a look into the covered section of I-70. One day this will have ballfields and landscaping. Today there's a job trailer and a bunch of picnic tables.


Still on the covered section, there is a small crane used to load/unload some long bundles of heavy rebar.


This is looking southwesterly at Columbine Street. This is the end of the covered section. Interesting that Kiewit, the General Contractor, has a sign for the "Cover Top Laydown Yard 4621 Columbine Street". In this day of GPS, they probably need a street address for all the trucks coming in and out.


Looking west at Columbine Street. The Purina plant is close enough to see the logo on the top. There are three signalized intersections in quick succession: Columbine Street and the one-way pairs of Josephine Street and York Street.


Approaching York Street.


Looking south on York Street, which is one-way southbound. With all the concrete work, it looks like there's a wide sidewalk and a separated bike lane planned on the left. The bridge and the Purina plant are on the right.


Crossing the York Street intersection as we begin the ramp under the railroad bridge. The BGS in the background is for the upcoming I-70 exit at Brighton Boulevard. We have our last view of the Purina plant silos at the far left with a concrete pumper truck setup in the background just to its right.


Under and after the railroad underpass, E. 46th North Avenue is separated from the I-70 mainline by a Jersey barrier. In the background is the Brighton Boulevard exit from I-70 which merges into E. 46th North essentially right as it exits.
So many miles and so many roads

Plutonic Panda

This is going to be a really nice project once completed I only wish that they would've included more lanes.

MCRoads

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on November 19, 2021, 10:33:56 PM
This is going to be a really nice project once completed I only wish that they would've included more lanes.

The people in this area were already pissed about how wide it was, and how many houses/businesses needed to be displaced. We're pretty fortunate that it got as wide as it did.
I build roads on Minecraft. Like, really good roads.
Interstates traveled:
4/5/10*/11**/12**/15/25*/29*/35(E/W[TX])/40*/44**/49(LA**)/55*/64**/65/66*/70°/71*76(PA*,CO*)/78*°/80*/95°/99(PA**,NY**)

*/** indicates a terminus/termini being traveled
° Indicates a gap (I.E Breezwood, PA.)

more room plz

zzcarp

I drove eastbound through the project area Monday evening. While I couldn't take pictures since it was dark, I will note that the EB Steele Street exit has reopened and the EB exit to Colorado Boulevard is basically in its final configuration. It seems they've closed the temporary EB loop ramp from I-70 to Colorado but have left the temporary traffic signal there, presumably to still allow access to the neighborhood southwest of I-70 and Colorado. I expect that temporary access and traffic light to be abandoned in the first couple weeks after the New Year.
So many miles and so many roads

zzcarp

Bumping this thread with some new photos taken yesterday, 4/11, around 7:15 pm. All are EB I-70 between Brighton Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard.



This is looking east at the Purina Plant. Much of the excavation for the future eastbound lanes is ready. They're putting the finishing touches on the railroad bridge in front of the plant.



This is eastbound looking at York Street. The girders for the bridge over the future Eastbound lanes are set, and there's no deck poured yet.



Now east of the tunnel, this is the temporary ramp from EB I-70 to US 6-85/Steele Street. Per a notice on the VMS, this ramp will close for 3 months beginning April 15.



This is near Cook Street where traffic swerves back onto the final eastbound alignment. Notice the "Exit 276B" sign in the left portion of the median, making it appear that the whole freeway is exiting.



Now on its final EB alignment, this is the actual I-70 eastbound exit to CO-2/Colorado Boulevard. There's no exit ramp signage at the gore point or on a BGS right now.
So many miles and so many roads

SD Mapman

Quote from: zzcarp on April 12, 2022, 03:29:12 PM


Now on its final EB alignment, this is the actual I-70 eastbound exit to CO-2/Colorado Boulevard. There's no exit ramp signage at the gore point or on a BGS right now.
Went to the natural history museum (sorry, Denver Museum of Nature and Science) a couple weeks ago and almost missed that ramp due to the lack of signage.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

zzcarp

According to this Friday Facebook post, the westbound I-70 express lanes from Chambers Road to Colorado Boulevard could open as soon as June 3 for testing. Presumably, they'll be free for a while before the tolls are imposed.
So many miles and so many roads

JayhawkCO


ski-man

Quote from: JayhawkCO on July 15, 2022, 11:42:45 AM
Doing the last traffic shift on Monday. Should be done by this fall. https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/13/central-70-project-denver-eastbound-traffic-shift/
Could you paste the article....have to have a subscription to see it.

zzcarp

Quote from: ski-man on July 16, 2022, 08:56:31 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on July 15, 2022, 11:42:45 AM
Doing the last traffic shift on Monday. Should be done by this fall. https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/13/central-70-project-denver-eastbound-traffic-shift/
Could you paste the article....have to have a subscription to see it.

QuoteComing Monday: Major I-70 traffic shift sets stage for end of 4-year-old Denver project
One-way weekend highway closure will allow crews to move eastbound traffic into final position


Drivers traveling east on Interstate 70 through Denver will get more room to spread out early next week when an expansion project hits a major milestone – marking the beginning of the end for the four-year-old undertaking.

By early Monday morning, a traffic shift will move eastbound traffic between Brighton and Colorado boulevards, the gnarliest work zone of the $1.3 billion Central 70 Project, into its final placement on the south half of the highway. To the north, the westbound side of the highway still will have a couple more months of finishing work to go. For more than a year, that side has hosted both directions of traffic, squeezed into a temporary configuration that will need to be undone.

But finally, the end of the project is in sight: Its contractors are aiming to complete major construction on the entire 10-mile project this fall.

"I know the community and the traveling public is ready for the project to be over, and we're excited to deliver a quality project,"  said Bob Hays, the Colorado Department of Transportation's Central 70 project director, during a media tour Wednesday morning on the new eastbound lanes' freshly set asphalt.

To prepare for the eastbound traffic shift, crews will close all eastbound lanes between Washington Street and Interstate 270 through the coming weekend, starting at 10 p.m. Friday. Traffic will be rerouted on a detour that uses Interstate 76 to I-270. Westbound I-70 won't be affected.

By 5 a.m. Monday, fresh pavement will welcome the three regular eastbound lanes to the south side of the highway.

The change comes with a request by project officials for drivers to watch their speeds, now that the road will be smoother and roomier. The only thing left in coming months, CDOT says, will be the gradual opening and testing of an express lane that's already in use, without tolling, east of Colorado Boulevard.

Project won't fix congestion but may smooth flow
One word of caution: Don't expect the project to cure I-70 of congestion, even once it's complete.

The highway carries about 200,000 vehicles a day. Given the project's limited goals – to bring I-70 up to federal highway standards and add an express lane in each direction – capacity will still be tight.

"What I'll say is the safety features are going to help improve the flow of traffic,"  Hays said. "So we're going to have the full-width shoulders. We're going to have standard (acceleration and deceleration) lanes for all of the ramps. ... Come Monday, we will have the full length of deceleration lane needed in order to get off (I-70) at Steele and get off at Colorado."

On the westbound side, crews will spend the next two months removing the median barrier that separated the temporary eastbound lanes and reconfiguring safety equipment. They also will carry out final paving, requiring some overnight lane closures, along with restriping to accommodate the final westbound lanes, including a new express lane.

The target to finish all that up is mid-September.

Since breaking ground in August 2018, the Central 70 project has widened I-70 between Interstate 25 and Chambers Road in Aurora, reconstructing portions of it. Most work east of Colorado has been done for a while.

But the most complex construction has occurred in the 1.8-mile stretch where a raised highway span used to ferry traffic between Brighton and Colorado, northeast of downtown. Crews built a new, recessed highway north of that viaduct and are working on a 4-acre cover park above it next to Swansea Elementary School, to help knit the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood together.

Construction crews with the contracting team, Kiewit-Meridiam Partners, approached the work in two phases. When the north side of the new highway section was complete in May 2021, project managers diverted all traffic into it to share what would be the eventual westbound lanes.

Then crews demolished the 57-year-old viaduct structure last summer, making room to dig out the rest of the new section – the side that will open to eastbound traffic on Monday.

Recent work made quick progress
Hays stood Wednesday inside the 1,000-foot tunnel beneath the park cover's structure. He noted features of that lengthy tunnel, including a variable lighting system that attempts to match the brightness outside the tunnel on sunny days, making the transition easier for drivers. A ventilation system includes nine jet fans at the entrance that can quickly clear smoggy air or smoke in the event of a tunnel fire.

Construction moved more quickly during the second phase of tunnel construction.

"The build-out of this eastern bore, the southern half of the cover, has gone so extremely well because we learned all the lessons on the northern bore,"  Hays said. "This is just – you know, we call it "˜rinse and repeat.' "

Despite early setbacks and delays, the project largely has gone smoothly. The contractors by December are aiming to reach the contractual "substantial completion"  mark, which leaves just minor completion work for early next year. If they hit that mark, they'll earn a $2.5 million incentive under a settlement with CDOT that resolved project cost disputes.

Still, that would be about nine months behind the original schedule's March target.

Aside from finishing up the westbound lanes, plenty of work remains on the cover park, where structures are starting to take shape. Crews have about four months to build out and landscape its many elements, including a central plaza, a multi-purpose playing field and an events lawn with a stage. They're aiming for a mid-November opening for the new Denver public park.

Down on the highway, Hays says the express lanes – which extend east to Aurora – likely will begin charging tolls early next year.
So many miles and so many roads

ski-man

Quote from: zzcarp on July 16, 2022, 10:22:01 PM
Quote from: ski-man on July 16, 2022, 08:56:31 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on July 15, 2022, 11:42:45 AM
Doing the last traffic shift on Monday. Should be done by this fall. https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/13/central-70-project-denver-eastbound-traffic-shift/
Could you paste the article....have to have a subscription to see it.

QuoteComing Monday: Major I-70 traffic shift sets stage for end of 4-year-old Denver project
One-way weekend highway closure will allow crews to move eastbound traffic into final position


Drivers traveling east on Interstate 70 through Denver will get more room to spread out early next week when an expansion project hits a major milestone – marking the beginning of the end for the four-year-old undertaking.

By early Monday morning, a traffic shift will move eastbound traffic between Brighton and Colorado boulevards, the gnarliest work zone of the $1.3 billion Central 70 Project, into its final placement on the south half of the highway. To the north, the westbound side of the highway still will have a couple more months of finishing work to go. For more than a year, that side has hosted both directions of traffic, squeezed into a temporary configuration that will need to be undone.

But finally, the end of the project is in sight: Its contractors are aiming to complete major construction on the entire 10-mile project this fall.

"I know the community and the traveling public is ready for the project to be over, and we're excited to deliver a quality project,"  said Bob Hays, the Colorado Department of Transportation's Central 70 project director, during a media tour Wednesday morning on the new eastbound lanes' freshly set asphalt.

To prepare for the eastbound traffic shift, crews will close all eastbound lanes between Washington Street and Interstate 270 through the coming weekend, starting at 10 p.m. Friday. Traffic will be rerouted on a detour that uses Interstate 76 to I-270. Westbound I-70 won't be affected.

By 5 a.m. Monday, fresh pavement will welcome the three regular eastbound lanes to the south side of the highway.

The change comes with a request by project officials for drivers to watch their speeds, now that the road will be smoother and roomier. The only thing left in coming months, CDOT says, will be the gradual opening and testing of an express lane that's already in use, without tolling, east of Colorado Boulevard.

Project won't fix congestion but may smooth flow
One word of caution: Don't expect the project to cure I-70 of congestion, even once it's complete.

The highway carries about 200,000 vehicles a day. Given the project's limited goals – to bring I-70 up to federal highway standards and add an express lane in each direction – capacity will still be tight.

"What I'll say is the safety features are going to help improve the flow of traffic,"  Hays said. "So we're going to have the full-width shoulders. We're going to have standard (acceleration and deceleration) lanes for all of the ramps. ... Come Monday, we will have the full length of deceleration lane needed in order to get off (I-70) at Steele and get off at Colorado."

On the westbound side, crews will spend the next two months removing the median barrier that separated the temporary eastbound lanes and reconfiguring safety equipment. They also will carry out final paving, requiring some overnight lane closures, along with restriping to accommodate the final westbound lanes, including a new express lane.

The target to finish all that up is mid-September.

Since breaking ground in August 2018, the Central 70 project has widened I-70 between Interstate 25 and Chambers Road in Aurora, reconstructing portions of it. Most work east of Colorado has been done for a while.

But the most complex construction has occurred in the 1.8-mile stretch where a raised highway span used to ferry traffic between Brighton and Colorado, northeast of downtown. Crews built a new, recessed highway north of that viaduct and are working on a 4-acre cover park above it next to Swansea Elementary School, to help knit the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood together.

Construction crews with the contracting team, Kiewit-Meridiam Partners, approached the work in two phases. When the north side of the new highway section was complete in May 2021, project managers diverted all traffic into it to share what would be the eventual westbound lanes.

Then crews demolished the 57-year-old viaduct structure last summer, making room to dig out the rest of the new section – the side that will open to eastbound traffic on Monday.

Recent work made quick progress
Hays stood Wednesday inside the 1,000-foot tunnel beneath the park cover's structure. He noted features of that lengthy tunnel, including a variable lighting system that attempts to match the brightness outside the tunnel on sunny days, making the transition easier for drivers. A ventilation system includes nine jet fans at the entrance that can quickly clear smoggy air or smoke in the event of a tunnel fire.

Construction moved more quickly during the second phase of tunnel construction.

"The build-out of this eastern bore, the southern half of the cover, has gone so extremely well because we learned all the lessons on the northern bore,"  Hays said. "This is just – you know, we call it "˜rinse and repeat.' "

Despite early setbacks and delays, the project largely has gone smoothly. The contractors by December are aiming to reach the contractual "substantial completion"  mark, which leaves just minor completion work for early next year. If they hit that mark, they'll earn a $2.5 million incentive under a settlement with CDOT that resolved project cost disputes.

Still, that would be about nine months behind the original schedule's March target.

Aside from finishing up the westbound lanes, plenty of work remains on the cover park, where structures are starting to take shape. Crews have about four months to build out and landscape its many elements, including a central plaza, a multi-purpose playing field and an events lawn with a stage. They're aiming for a mid-November opening for the new Denver public park.

Down on the highway, Hays says the express lanes – which extend east to Aurora – likely will begin charging tolls early next year.
Thanks a bunch!!!! I drive thru this area often to see my daughters who live in Denver.

Plutonic Panda

Apparently this section has a flood and CDOT is "investigating"  why it happened. I guess I'm not too surprised an intense rainstorm could overwhelm drainage systems but I don't know the extent of it: https://denverite.com/2022/08/08/cdot-says-itll-get-to-the-bottom-of-why-i-70-flooded-stranding-motorists/

JayhawkCO

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on August 08, 2022, 12:57:46 PM
Apparently this section has a flood and CDOT is "investigating"  why it happened. I guess I'm not too surprised an intense rainstorm could overwhelm drainage systems but I don't know the extent of it: https://denverite.com/2022/08/08/cdot-says-itll-get-to-the-bottom-of-why-i-70-flooded-stranding-motorists/

I was going to post something on this today. Sounds like it's a temporary issue. The fun thing is that I'm 12 miles away as the crow flies and didn't get a single drop of rain.

zzcarp

I drove through I-70 on the new EB lanes and took pictures about 5:40 pm to eventually post here on the way to a concert at the Bluebird. Luckily, I was in a pizza place next to the Bluebird on Colfax when the deluge happened. I left for home after the concert around 11 and passed back on WB I-70 through the construction zone and tunnel and there was no evidence that the roadway had flooded or was closed at all. Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked social media with the pictures of the flooding.

So many miles and so many roads

triplemultiplex

I like that this thread title still has "may" in the title even though it's done. ;)
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

JayhawkCO

The Denver Post is reporting that 1.76 inches of rain fell in 26 minutes. That's a hammering.

roadman65

Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 08, 2022, 03:45:27 PM
I like that this thread title still has "may" in the title even though it's done. ;)

Yeah, but we all slip up from time to time.  If it were ten years ago and I slipped a few trolls would be on me like flies to maple syrup.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

zzcarp

Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 09, 2022, 10:21:47 AM
The Denver Post is reporting that 1.76 inches of rain fell in 26 minutes. That's a hammering.

1.76 inches in 26 minutes is a rate of 4.06 inches per hour. That puts it just slightly more than a 100-year storm for that duration in Denver.

The major cause seems to be the pumps that were supposed to automatically turn on didn't.

QuoteA faulty pump system could be responsible for flooding on Interstate 70 in north Denver late Sunday, which stranded hundreds of motorists for more than an hour.

The pumps that typically keep that lowered section of I-70 clear of water did not turn on automatically when they should have, said a spokesman for the contractor building the nearly complete $1.2 billion Central 70 project.

"Once this was determined Kiewit turned the pumps on manually,"  Kiewit Public Information Manager Matt Sanman wrote in a statement. "After the pumps turned on, the area was drained in a short period of time indicating that the pumps, once manually started, were working as intended and the error was corrected."  

So many miles and so many roads

Plutonic Panda


Billy F 1988

That's not an oops. That's a major F*** up. Hope that mishap was worth it for the sleeping bozos on the sub surfacing project of I-70. They'll never get another CDOT contract with mistakes like that. That's what happens when you think you have it all worked out, then this lazy sham of a flood happens to bork all of that progress they made. I say "lazy sham" because of emphasizing on their laziness, not on the entire project itself, mainly the storm drainage system and the safety pumps. If I-90 was getting sub surfaced and Kiewit was given the go by MDT and they mess up like this, they would get their asses chewed by the MDT director.
Finally upgraded to Expressway after, what, seven or so years on this forum? Took a dadgum while, but, I made it!



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