Construction of a new light-rail line in Aurora is moving full steam ahead despite a minor detour along the way.
Officials with the Regional Transportation District, or RTD, are finalizing plans for a proposed realignment of a portion of the Interstate 225 Rail Line.
The agency hosted a meeting this week to inform the community of its plans to reroute a 1/2-mile segment of the project that runs through the Anschutz Medical Campus.
RTD voted last month to change the route because of concerns that electromagnetic interference from trains could damage highly sensitive medical equipment on the campus.
Since then, RTD planners have worked to shift the alignment farther away from the medical buildings, said Tina Jaquez, public information officer for the I-225 Rail Line.
“We’re narrowing in on an alignment on the north side of Fitzsimons Parkway,” Jaquez said. “We don’t have an exact station area, but we have a good idea of where it will be.”
Otherwise, work is moving along steadily on the project, a 10.5-mile light-rail line that includes eight stops in Aurora. Crews began work this month to extend the line north out of Nine Mile Station, said Chuck Culig, project manager for the I-225 Rail Line project.
Workers are installing girders for a flyover bridge that will take commuters over the I-225 median and onto the east side of the highway, he said.
Construction is expected to commence soon on several other flyovers in Aurora, including those at the intersections of Iliff, Mississippi and Sixth avenues, Culig said. Construction of a bridge that traverses Colfax Avenue will likely begin next year, he said.
“Those are the major areas we’re focused on right now,” Culig said. “I think we’re progressing pretty well.”
Work on the commuter expansion project started taking shape earlier this year after RTD approved a public-private partnership with Kiewit Infrastructure Company to fully fund the $600 million train line.
With the money in place, officials quickly moved forward with the nuts and bolts of the project, everything from utility relocations and tree removals to planning for right-of-way acquisitions, Culig said.
Meanwhile, construction is chugging along on the East Rail Line, a 22.8-mile commuter rail transit corridor that will connect downtown Denver and Denver International Airport. Crews have started laying tracks for the rail line, which is expected to open in 2016.
Construction workers are also building a nearly 5,000-foot flyover bridge across Interstate 70 and Airport Boulevard in Aurora that will swing the East Rail Line north along Peña Boulevard, said Kevin Flynn, a spokesman for the project.
Work on the Aurora portion of East Rail Line has mostly consisted of utility relocations along Smith Road, Flynn said.
Construction is also underway at the Peoria Station, which will eventually connect the East Line with the I-225 Line.
Joey Kirchmer: 303-954-2650 or jkirchmer@denverpost.com
