RTD bridge work will hamper motorists this weekend
LAKEWOOD – Construction of the Indiana Street light rail bridge will close West 6th Avenue beneath the bridge overnight Friday and Saturday.
A construction crew will set the final steel girders in place at the bridge site, forcing closure of the highway at Indiana from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. both nights. Motorists will be detoured off the highway and off Indiana Street during the closure.
East- and west-bound traffic will be routed off 6th Avenue at the Indiana exits, but can simply cross Indiana, then return to 6th Avenue pon the entrance ramps from Indiana.
Drivers on Indiana will be re-rerouted onto the highway, then detoured west to the Simms/Union exit or east to West Colfax Avenue.
Crews working on the FasTracks West Corridor light rail line have been placing girders on the north and south approaches to the bridge for the past several weeks. This weekend’s work will install girders on the main span of the rail bridge.
The single track light rail bridge stretching over 6th Avenue at Indiana is the longest structure on the project.
“With its unique curve, the bridge is an architectural wonder and perhaps the most spectacular feature of the West Corridor,” according to RTD.
The Indiana Street bridge will be one of 11 along the path of the light rail tracks. It will weigh more than 16 millions pounds when complete and will span 1,532 feet and will loom 65 feet above West 6th Ave.
The 12.1-mile West Corridor light rail line, which bisects Lakewood, eventually will link the Jefferson County Government Center, Lakewood, the Federal Center and Golden with downtown Denver and will offer connections to other FasTracks rail lines.
FasTracks is a 12-year program to expand rail and bus service throughout the RTD service area. The FasTracks program is expected to provide six new rail corridors, extend three existing corridors, build 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and expand bus service across the eight-county Regional Transportation District. The entire FasTracks transit plan’s cost is estimated at $6.5 billion, but current revenue projections fall short of that mark by about $2.45 billion.
