Twin Creek Bridge Project Starts Tomorrow on US 24
Work involves closing U.S. 24 and rerouting through traffic via a nine-mile detour while the 73-year-old bridge is removed and replaced with a new concrete structure.
Beginning early Thursday morning, all traffic will be detoured to County Road 1 and 42 (Lower Twin Rocks Road), 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for up to two weeks (see map below). The detour speed limit will be 35 mph. Vehicles wider than 11 feet also will be restricted from traveling the detour route. However, all large trucks are encouraged to use an alternate route while U.S. 24 is closed.
“Closing Highway 24 through the area allows the bridge to be replaced in a timely manner which, in turn, minimizes how long traffic will need to use the detour route,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Dave Watt. “Replacing a bridge while still maintaining traffic on part of it normally takes up to twelve weeks to complete. Closing the entire roadway allows the bridge to be replaced within 14 days.”
Local traffic still will be able to use U.S. 24, east and west of the bridge site.
Two other structures are being replaced as part of the project – the recently completed Fountain Creek Bridge on U.S. 24 in Cascade, and the Loy Gulch Bridge on State Highway 67, at the north end of Woodland Park. Traffic impacts and other information about the Woodland Park bridge replacement will be distributed before work begins in late October.
SEMA Construction, Inc., of Centennial, Colo. is the project’s prime contractor.
FASTER – Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery – is fully funding the $2 million project. Financed by vehicle registration fees, FASTER established a Statewide Bridge Enterprise, funding the maintenance and repair of Colorado’s most urgent structurally-deficient and functionally-obsolete bridges. Additional information is accessible at: www.coloradodot.info/projects/faster.
Updated information regarding traffic impacts on this or other CDOT projects is available at www.cotrip.org or by calling 511. To receive project updates via e-mail, visit www.coloradodot.info and click on the cell-phone icon in the upper right-hand corner. The link takes you to a list of items you can subscribe to, including Southeast Colorado.
