Lakewood streets yield way to FasTracks
Nelson Street will be permanently blocked off on both sides of the new light rail path next week.
LAKEWOOD – The city’s first permanent FasTracks road closures go into effect in a week, forcing motorists who use Holland, Nelson and Otis streets to turn east or west at the West Corridor Light Rail Line path along West 13th Avenue.
And the Denver Transit Construction Group Friday got the green light to move into full blown construction mode, signaling the start of major operations on the 12.1-mile light rail project.
The group is the contractor for the West Corridor line.
“We have made great progress on FasTracks over the past four years through the environmental and design processes, and now construction is the clear, visible sign that FasTracks is coming to a community near you,” said Cal Marsella, Regional Transportation District general manager. Marsella is resigning July 31 to take a job with a private transit services company in California.
Holland, Nelson and Otis streets will be closed June 26 because of “safety and operational issues,” according to RTD. Three other Lakewood streets – Allison, Brentwood and Marshall – will be closed at West 13th in the coming months after right-of-way acquisitions are completed.
As full construction kicks off, other areas of Lakewood and west Denver will feel the increasing impact and disruption of the light-rail work.
Crews will begin what RTD termed “major operations” along West 6th Avenue, including placing concrete traffic barriers along the south side of the highway west of Union Boulevard before starting construction of more than 3,000 feet of retaining walls. Other projects in the immediate area include bridge construction across West 6th just east of Simms Street/Union Boulevard, the flyover bridge across West 6th at Indiana Street and the bridge over West Colfax Ave. east of the highway.
Other work along Lakewood’s portion of the line includes this summer’s completion of the stabilized earthen walls at the site of the Kipling Street rail overpass and the nearby Pikeview pedestrian tunnel. The tunnel will remain closed until rail service begins.
Crews also are changing the course of the agricultural ditch at Union Boulevard and West 6th Avenue, boring beneath Union east to the Cold Spring RTD lot.
Work on pedestrian bridges along the Denver portion of the rail line at Tennyson Street and Hazel Court will begin in July.
Voters approved FasTracks’ West Corridor Light Rail project in 2004.
The estimated cost of the entire FasTracks project, originally estimated at $4.7 billion, now is expected to cost $6.2 billion when complete in 2013.
RTD’s governing board recently voted to hold off at least a year before asking voters for the money to fill the gap.
