Crews will start an ambitious repair project on Interstate 270 this weekend, forcing detours on to Interstate 25 and Interstate 70, though the work won’t be as massive as motorists were initially told.
The Colorado Department of Transportation will begin to resurface and make other safety improvements to I-270 starting at 11 p.m. Friday and continuing until 5:30 a.m. Monday. The work will require eastbound lanes of the highway to be closed between I-76 and I-70.
The $4.1 million project expands improvements made last year by repairing shoulders and eliminating the “roller coaster” effect motorist experience when driving on I-270, CDOT resident engineer Neil Lacey said. CDOT already has repaired multiple bridge decks along eastbound and westbound I-270 to improve the roadway surface, he said.
Motorists will be detoured to I-25 and then I-70 during the work, CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.
A similar weekend closure of westbound I-270, between I-70 and I-76, is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 5, weather permitting.
CDOT knows the road work will be an inconvenience, Stegman said. But it won’t be as bad as what electronic road signs have warned commuters to expect from the project, she said.
The road signs — managed by CDOT and suspended over interstates in the Denver-area — on Monday made it seem that all of I-270, along with I-76 and I-70 would be closed.
“It was just some bad wording,” Stegman said, adding the signs have since been changed to be more accurate.
The project is scheduled to wrap up next spring.
The following improvements to both eastbound and westbound I-270 are planned:
• Roto-mil and pave 3 miles of I-270 from I-76 to just south of Dahlia Street.
• Correct the profile of the roadway between the South Platte River and Colorado 265 to eliminate small hills and the “roller coaster” motorists experience.
• Roto-mil and pave several bridge decks on I-270 and make minor repairs to the bridge over Vasquez Boulevard.
• Repair the potholed inside and outside shoulders, resurface the shoulders south of Dahlia, and pave the existing rutted concrete pavement.
• Remove and replace damaged guardrails throughout the project.
• Install traffic metering at the ramp from westbound Vasquez Boulevard to westbound I-270 to help regulate the flow of traffic during peak hours.
For weekly lane closure information, visit CDOT’s
at coloradodot.info/travel/assets/DenverMetro_web.pdf.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/montewhaley
