AURORA — Two major road-improvement projects are underway to help ease congestion on one of the busiest stretches of metro-area freeway.
But before things get better, travel on Interstate 225 will get worse.
The Colorado Department of Transportation recently began widening I-225 in Aurora from East Mississippi Avenue to East Second Avenue.
New southbound and northbound lanes will be added, making the freeway three lanes in each direction from Interstate 70 to Mississippi and from Parker Road almost to Interstate 25.
The stretch of highway carries 120,000 vehicles daily and even without the construction delays, traffic is often stop-and-go. The project, to be complete next summer, is expected to cost $20.3 million, CDOT said.
Work also is starting on the East Colfax Avenue interchange with I-225, one of the most difficult to navigate in the metro area. The project should help ease back-ups near the growing Anschutz Medical Campus.
“The widening of 225 in that stretch is extremely important,” said CDOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane. “It is critical for travel not only locally but regionally. There is a lot of development in that area.”
The Colfax-I-225 interchange project is expected to cost $43 million.
Interstate 225 from East Second Avenue north to Colfax will only need new striping, as it was already wide enough for additional lanes. But those lanes cannot be added, Crane said, until sound-deadening walls go up.
There will be lane shifts and some nighttime lane closures that will further add to the congestion.
Some say the improvements will do little to alleviate traffic along Aurora’s main corridor.
John Knop of Aurora, a retired CDOT engineer who uses that stretch of highway almost daily, said the 3-mile stretch from Parker Road to Mississippi Avenue will still be only two lanes each way, meaning that the congestion will be moved, not fixed.
“That’s going to be a massive bottleneck,” Knop said.”Basically, it will be congested, much like it is today.”
Though there is no money earmarked or timetable set for widening that final stretch of the road, designs are underway so that when funding is available, the project can happen quickly, Crane said.
That project will be more costly and complex, as it involves moving buildings and other structures.
Still, the improvements underway will help many travelers, including those who work and need attention at the medical campus.
“With the projected delays and uncertainty about the 225 light-rail system, these highway projects become even bigger when we talk about serving people who are ill, children and veterans,” said Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
The inside scoop
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