2024-5. October 9, 2024. As part of the larger rewrite of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Project Development Manual (PDM), Section 2.05 Design Exception Variance Request has been updated in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to reflect CDOT‘s design exception protocol.
Design Bulletins
Updated on October 9, 2024.
2024-4. September 20, 2024. Per Procedural Directive 31.1, titled "Website Development and Web Accessibility", content on an external-facing Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) website must be accessible by July 1, 2024. As this relates to the advertisement of accessible plans for construction after July 1, 2024, due to the diverse information conveyed in even the most basic plan set, it is not currently technologically feasible to make items like a plan sheet accessible. Regarding the accessibility of project special provision specifications created by the regions for project advertisements, it is technologically feasible to make these accessible due to their text formatting.
2024-3. July 1, 2024. This design bulletin provides guidance to designers for assigning pavement smoothness categories for hot mix asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavements. Effective on and after July 1, 2024.
2024-2. May 16, 2024. The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide information and instruction regarding revisions changes to the Water Quality Specifications that were made to comply with the requirements of the new Colorado Discharge Permit System—Stormwater Construction Permit (CDPS-SCP) also known as the COR400000. The new CDPS-SCP was issued on January 31, 2024, and became effective on April 1, 2024. The guidance provided in this Bulletin should be followed for all projects that require a CDPS-SCP.
2024-1. February 21, 2024. The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide information and instruction regarding revisions to Standard Specifications 101.02 and 106.11. Changes to the specifications were made to comply with the supplemental guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C. as contained in Memorandum M-24-02 released October 25, 2023, and based on the Notification of Final Guidance/Final Rule as published in the Code of Federal Regulations on August 23, 2023. Three revised specifications were issued as Standard Special Provisions (SSPs) on January 8, 2024 and should be applied to projects with a Construction Phase Federal Funding Authorization Date that occurred on or after October 23, 2023. Projects currently under ad or that have already been opened/awarded and that meet the criteria outlined herein should pursue a Revision Under Ad or a Contract Modification Order (CMO), respectively, to ensure the appropriate specification is included in the project. This would similarly apply to any Local Agency projects meeting the same criteria.
2023-3. September 22, 2023. Instructions on how to improve the Revisions under Advertisement process and reduce the potential for issuing multiple revisions. All revision packages are now required to be first submitted to the Repro Unit for a quality control review. The updated Section 2 of the Project Development Manual, coming soon, will include this and additional details about the Revisions under Advertisement process.
2023-2. August 16, 2023. The new Section 1 of the Project Development Manual (PDM) is now available for use. Please note that individual Design Bulletins will not be posted with the release of each new PDM section. Instead, updates regarding new sections made available will primarily be communicated through the Area Engineer's newsletter.
2023-1. June 27, 2023. Several electrical utility companies and CDOT Regions are now requiring that traffic signal projects include electrical one-line diagrams. Since most traffic signals have similar electrical power needs, CDOT has developed typical electrical one-line diagrams. The S-613-4 construction standards are intended to be applied at each intersection by the Engineer, for the specific power available at the site.
2022-2. February 17, 2022. The Engineering Estimates and Market Analysis (EEMA) Branch is implementing a new process to request Engineering Estimates for projects.
2022-1. February 8, 2022. The purpose of this Design Bulletin is to provide guidance for the use of the Utility Conflict Matrix (UCM) for the identification of utility conflicts with new roadway design features. UCMs are designed to help CDOT and utility companies identify the best and most cost-effective solutions. The UCM is designed to be scalable and support a range of project sizes and conditions, in varying levels of project design.
2021-3. December 1, 2021. As of September 1, 2021, projects will follow the revamped Systems Engineering Analysis (SEA) process. The SEA will no longer be a part of the Operations Evaluation. This revamped SEA requirements and individual processes are explained in the new section 4.13 of the Project Development Manual.
2021-2. December 1, 2021. On January 1, 2016 all projects with a Design Scoping Review on or after February 1, 2016 required a Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O) Evaluation. A new name, "Operations Evaluation", was issued when the Operations Evaluation Web Tool went live on January 21st, 2021.
2021-1. March 22, 2021. The purpose of this Design Bulletin is to outline changes to the Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) Templates based on the February 1, 2021 permit modification.
