First Major Traffic Realignment on US 36 Express Lanes Starting Tonight

January 3, 2013 - Denver Metro Colorado/CDOT Region 6 - DENVER – Tonight, January 3 and tomorrow night January 4, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will realign the westbound lanes of US 36 from Sheridan Boulevard to Church Ranch Boulevard.

As a result, motorists can expect one lane of westbound US 36 to be closed each night from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Delays are expected and alternate routes are advised.

This is the first traffic realignment of two that will occur over the next week. This week’s realignment will move drivers to the new temporary westbound lanes and next week’s realignment will move eastbound traffic to the north to allow construction crews to widen and reconstruct the permanent eastbound lanes.

“While the realignment keeps both lanes open, the lanes will feel a little bit different and more compressed to drivers,” said CDOT Project Director John Schwab. “We encourage drivers to be more aware as they get used to the realignment and it is extremely important to follow the construction signs and the lower speed limit.”

Throughout the project, US 36 will be placed in various traffic alignments to allow crews to widen and reconstruct US 36. Once the permanent eastbound lanes are completed, traffic will be realigned once again to allow for the widening and reconstruction of the westbound lanes. By placing traffic in temporary realignments, CDOT is able to keep two lanes of eastbound and westbound US 36 open during peak hours.

The US 36 Express Lanes Project is a $312 million multi-modal project that will build an express lane in each direction on US 36 from Federal Boulevard to 88th Street in Louisville/Superior. The lanes will accommodate High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV), Bus Rapid Transit and tolled Single Occupancy Vehicles. In addition, the project will replace several bridges, build a commuter bikeway, add Bus Rapid Transit improvements, and install Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for tolling, transit, and traveler information, and incident management.

The Ames Granite Joint Venture team is the design-build contractor for the project, which began in summer 2012 and will be open to the public in January 2015.

For more information about the project, please visit www.us36expresslanes.com. To receive free email updates during the project, click on the cell phone icon in the upper right corner. You can then subscribe to a variety of lists including “US 36 Express Lanes Project.” You can visit the mobile website at http://m.us36expresslanes.com