Dry Creek Bridge Repairs on US 287 Past Midpoint
LARIMER COUNTY — Work by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) on the Dry Creek Bridge on US 287 north of Fort Collins is on schedule. Traffic from the old bridge, located at mile marker (MM) 349, has been realigned since December and will continue to be realigned until May 2012.
“Crews have been hard at work to move the project forward on time and on budget,” said Project Engineer Lou Keen. “We are more than halfway done with the project. The old bridge has been completely demolished, the flood prevention work is finished, and we are now moving forward on the construction of the new bridge.”
In addition to the demolition of the old bridge, excavation for the new bridge is complete and crews have begun work on the base. Large culverts were installed under the existing roadway to more effectively drain the area, lowering the flood plain along Dry Creek by three feet, alleviating some flooding danger for several residents along the highway. CDOT will repave the roadway later this spring. The entire project is scheduled for completion by June 2012.
Work continues to place between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays with single alternating lane closures at US 287 and Meadow Lane between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The speed limit has been reduced along the traffic realignment and CDOT would like to remind motorists to obey all road signs and flaggers, and to drive Slow for the Cone Zone.
CDOT has been purchasing right-of-way near the Dry Creek Bridge as part of a future effort to widen the US 287 roadway to four lanes, and also to add a center turn lane, bike lanes, and sidewalks. The cost estimate for the future widening project is approximately $15 million, but until funding is secured, there is no timeline in place.
The $1.8 million bridge replacement project contracted to Mountain Constructors is funded by the Colorado Bridge Enterprise (CBE), formed in 2009 as part of the FASTER (Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery) legislation. The purpose of the CBE is to finance, repair, reconstruct and replace structurally deficient bridges. Visit CDOT’s CBE website at http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/BridgeEnterprise.
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