AASHTO Journal, 19 August 2016
The Colorado Department of Transportation launched a long-planned, $276 million project to build 12.5 miles of tolled express lanes in Denver on heavily used C-470 in Douglas County.
The project will add new traffic lanes and in some areas double the width of the existing highway when it is completed in the spring of 2019. CDOT said more than 100,000 motorists now use that segment of C-470 each day, with volumes projected to increase 40 percent by 2035.
Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 10, CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt called it “a project that not only has an incredible regional economic impact, but will touch the daily lives of commuters and community members in this area.”
When the new lanes open, CDOT said, “motorists will have the option to use the Express Lanes for a faster, more reliable commute, or the free general purpose lanes.” CDOT will manage, own and operate the toll lanes, and has said there will be no high-occupancy-vehicle/carpool lanes in the corridor.
Besides building the toll lanes, the project also provides for full reconstruction of pavement in existing lanes, addition of auxiliary lanes at selected locations, on- and off-ramp improvements, realignment of substandard curves, widening of existing bridges within the project area, replacing bridges over the South Platte River and installing intelligent transportation system elements.
A CDOT contractor will work under a design-build contract, which rated bidders for how they proposed to make the improvements in the C-470 corridor, for the resulting operating and life-cycle maintenance costs and how they would minimize the construction impact on the traveling public.