SH 82 Castle Creek Bridge - We're Out of Here!

ASPEN – CDOT and contractor ABCO promised—and delivered—a pre-holiday end to traffic impacts at Castle Creek Bridge. Despite some weather setbacks and some extra work items, including sidewalk and improved drainage on the down-valley end, crews were able to lift the traffic detour ahead of schedule.

Typically, adding work items to the original plans means adding more time to a project’s schedule. Instead, CDOT’s contractor beat their road work completion date by three days.

“The ABCO crews did an amazing job for us on this important project,” CDOT Program Engineer Joe Elsen said.  “We used an innovative contracting method that gives precedence to the bidder that can deliver the project in the shortest amount of time. ABCO was very organized and was able to add the scope and still finish early!”

While crews will no longer be impacting traffic, some work will continue under the bridge over the next few weeks. This minor work to improve expansion under the bridge’s down-valley abutment will only require a single, half-day closure of the bike path. Signs will be posted and cyclists and pedestrians can use the Marolt Trail for those several hours – it runs from the mining museum parking lot along Castle Creek and connects at 7th and Hopkins. The detour is around 1/3-mile long, and a much safer, less congested route.

The project, contracted to ABCO Contracting of Denver for $664,000, began on April 11 and made repairs to the bridge’s surface and sub-structure. Specifically, the project repaired the bridge’s asphalt surface and an inch of the underlying concrete deck; patched and resurfaced the concrete deck; installed a waterproofing membrane; overlaid the deck with three inches asphalt; replaced the expansion joint; constructed about 100 feet of curb and gutter with a drainage inlet on the down-valley, north side; and made minor repairs to abutments and piers.

“We want to thank the City of Aspen and Pitkin County for their coordination with us on many project details from traffic impacts to public information,” Elsen added.

CDOT and ABCO thank all travelers and area residents their patience throughout this construction project.To get information about other CDOT projects, the public may call 511, log onto CDOT’s traveler information site at www.cotrip.org or sign up to receive e-mails or text messages via CDOT’s site at www.coloradodot.info (choose the green phone icon in the upper right-hand corner.)