U.S. 285 project tries to bridge concerns

LAKEWOOD – When the Colorado Department of Transportation selected the team of Concrete Express Inc. and Tsiouvaras Simmons and Holderness Inc. for its $40.1 million reconstruction of Hampden Avenue in southwest metro Denver, it got more for its money through the design-build bidding process.

And Wednesday evening, about 30 people who attended a public meeting to hear the construction plans for the next 18 months got a lesson in just how important a role transportation funding plays in what gets done and what doesn’t – and they wanted to know whether they could get more.

Work kicks off in earnest in January when crews will start on a new bridge over Federal Boulevard. The 18-month project includes three bridge replacements – Wadsworth Boulevard and Pierce Street in addition to Federal – widened shoulders, concrete barriers, drainage improvements, upgraded signage and concrete reconstruction of the lanes between Kipling Street and Wadsworth. Bridge-deck rehabilitation is included for four other bridges.

Lakewood contributed money to the project budget for CDOT to make the Wadsworth span wide enough to accommodate six through-lanes plus double-left turns onto the freeway. Currently, the south approach has six lanes but they end at the Hampden ramps, a “lane-drop” that creates a rush-hour bottleneck. It will permit the six-lane profile to push north to Girton Avenue

It is scheduled for 18 months of construction with completion in June 2011.

While hearing about the phased construction plans and how it might impact their neighborhoods, several members of the audience at Bear Creek High School asked whether the project would include a bridge to take Hampden over Knox Court/Lowell Boulevard, widen the freeway from four to six lanes and erect noise walls – all of which would be desirable additions to the busy corridor.

Average daily traffic on the corridor ranges from 63,700 vehicles a day at Kipling, 65,900 at Federal and the highest total, 71,100, at Wadsworth. Peak-hour congestion is a long-standing problem due to the traffic signal at Knox/Lowell.

The answer was no and the reason was green – or lack of it. Although CDOT was able to squeeze more work out of its budget for this U.S. 285 reconstruction job, it would take tens of millions of dollars more to eliminate the last signalized intersection in the four-mile project zone, let alone add lanes and put up noise walls. Reconstruction alone doesn’t trigger the federal rules that require noise analysis and the potential for noise walls.

Safety was a primary concern among the attendees.

“That’s a death trap there,” Lakewood resident Sheri Hustede said of the Knox/Lowell intersection she crosses twice each day in her commute. Westbound traffic approaches from the embankment off the Federal bridge, while eastbounders approach from a long blind curve where the speed limit drops from 55 to 45.

“You come around that corner and everyone is stopped there,” she said.

Tony Gross, CDOT’s project manager, said substantial changes in a highway, including grade separations, lane additions and realignments, require an environmental process to examine the impacts of the work and plans to mitigate any damages such as noise near homes. Even a smaller-scale environmental assessment can require millions of dollars in engineering and technical analysis, let alone the cost of a full environmental impact study.

In addition, Gross said, a new grade separation at the skewed Knox/Lowell intersection would entail between $10 million and $15 million more in construction – money that’s not even on the horizon given all the other statewide demands on dwindling transportation resources.

However, the design-build team was able to include a slight change in the geometry of the Knox Court approach, moving it slightly west to widen its curve and better align it with Lowell on the south side. The roadway will move more into the current island on the northwest corner. It is also putting two left-turn lanes from Knox to eastbound Hampden. These small measures could improve safety.

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