E-470 officials on Tuesday opened southbound lanes of a $40 million “flyby” that enables through traffic on the toll road to avoid stoplights at the Interstate 70 interchange.
For seven years, E-470 users have chafed at encountering traffic signals at the highway’s intersection with I-70 and East Colfax Avenue.
Southbound lanes of the 2-mile-long bypass opened at 5 a.m. Tuesday, and northbound lanes are scheduled to open Aug. 24.
The flyby will make for a quicker commute for many motorists and should reduce accidents that have plagued the intersection, said Matt McDole, the highway’s chief engineer.
“It’s a real customer convenience and amenity. You will have faster travel times, and there is a big safety factor,” McDole said of the lanes that will allow north-south commuters to avoid the traffic signals.
E-470 is a 47-mile toll highway that forms an arc around the eastern edge of the Denver metro area.
Officials are beginning construction of a new $18 million “flyover” bridge that will take northbound E-470 traffic over the interchange and onto westbound I-70.
The 1,600-foot-long flyover is due for completion in October 2007. Until the bridge is finished, that northbound-to-westbound traffic must go through the traffic lights. There is no timetable for a similar fix for southbound E-470 motorists who wish to go west on I-70. They have to go through the traffic lights.
The area around the E-470/I-70 junction will remain a construction zone, with a reduced speed limit until the flyover opens, McDole said. E-470’s normal limit is 70 mph.
On Tuesday, a Colorado State Patrol car stationed on an overpass caught speeder after speeder for traveling too fast through the construction zone.
