Hundreds of people watched Saturday as FasTracks contractors began to slowly roll a 600-ton light-rail bridge over West Sixth Avenue.
Work was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Friday, but ended up starting at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The project was originally scheduled for the previous weekend but was postponed because of bad weather.
Hydraulic rams are pushing the prefabricated bridge on rollers at a rate of 10 to 25 feet an hour, so it will take up to 30 hours to get the structure across the roadway, according to the Regional Transportation District.
A viewing platform was set up at the corner of Quail Street and Frontage Road north.
To accommodate the bridge installation, West Sixth Avenue between Kip ling Street and Simms Street-Union Boulevard is scheduled to remain closed until 5:30 a.m. Monday. The north side of the Sixth Avenue Frontage Road between Kipling and Simms-Union also will close for the same period, RTD said.
During the shutdown, eastbound traffic on West Sixth will be detoured off the highway at Union and taken south to West Alameda Avenue. Drivers will take Alameda east, then go north on Kipling to get back on Sixth.
Westbound traffic on West Sixth will be detoured off at Kipling and directed north to West Colfax Avenue, where drivers will travel west to Simms and a re-entry to Sixth.
The 286-foot-long bridge is part of the $710 million West Corridor light-rail line, the first FasTracks project under construction.
The 12-mile line will run from downtown Denver to Lakewood and Golden, and is scheduled to open in 2013.
