Monday morning will bring the most forceful reminder yet that Interstate 70 is in for massive change through northeast Denver, as state officials close down a portion of East 46th Avenue.
The street, a surface connector in Elyria-Swansea that runs beneath the highway viaduct, will be closed permanently between Brighton Boulevard and York Street. The closure will bring new detours to an area that will see massive construction over the next four years, as crews dig a trench alongside the viaduct for a new sunken highway before tearing down the viaduct between Brighton and Colorado boulevards.
Closing that portion of 46th Avenue will allow for the building of a new Union Pacific Railroad bridge beneath the viaduct, followed by new street crossings that eventually will span above the new highway lanes.
The Colorado Department of Transportation urges drivers to use I-70 and frontage roads to travel between Brighton and York, according to a news release. Pedestrians are urged to walk along East 47th Avenue.
“Once the closure is in place, the art work (known as duct-work) along 46th Ave. will no longer be accessible to pedestrians or motorists,” the release says.
The $1.2 billion highway project officially broke ground last month and aims to partially reconstruct and widen the freeway between Interstate 25 and Chambers Road in Aurora, adding a tolled express lane in each direction.
