FasTracks night work to curb Wadsworth traffic

LAKEWOOD – Construction of the FasTracks West Corridor light rail project will reach a milestone next week with three overnight closures of Wadsworth Boulevard at 13th Avenue to set girders on what is planned to be Lakewood’s signature bridge.

The Wadsworth Station on the West Corridor will be smack on top of the bridge. Lakewood is negotiating with RTD to pay for an extra $2.6 million in “betterments” to upgrade the bridge and make it the center of the city’s transit-oriented redevelopment of the area.

For now, Denver Transit Construction Group is building the basic bridge. Its subcontractor, Edward Kraemer & Sons, is doing the work.

Crews will close off one lane of Wadsworth in each direction starting at 7 p.m. next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to begin staging for each night’s work. Then at 10 p.m., Wadsworth will be closed to traffic entirely between 10th and Colfax avenues.

The street is scheduled to reopen each morning by 5:30 a.m. The work is, as always, weather-dependent and could change. Inside Lane and the Edge will keep you informed if that happens.

While local access to nearby streets will be permitted during the closures, overnight through-traffic is being advised to use Sheridan Boulevard or Kipling Street.

Workers this week are preparing the site for the setting of the concrete girders, which will cover three spans. In addition to the center span over Wadsworth itself – which has the longest girders at 92 feet – the bridge has two side spans, one east and one west, under which the pedestrian staircases and elevators to the station will be located.

For more on the work and the work schedule, visit the Inside Lane.