SH 82 Grand Avenue Bridge Design Concepts Considered by Stakeholders
The SWG includes residents, business owners, city officials and other members of the Glenwood Springs community who have worked with CDOT since 2011 to generate ideas and criteria that shape the project and the recommended alternatives.
A total of 42 people (including community members, project team members, CDOT and consultants) attended the meeting from 1:30-4:30 Thursday afternoon to discuss options for the pedestrian bridge type, aesthetic design and treatment of the Grand Avenue Bridge, and pedestrian-scale and community-oriented features to enhance the entrance to Glenwood Springs as cars exit I-70 at SH 82. The discussions and community input will help guide the initial considerations about design and aesthetics of the project.
Joe Elsen, CDOT’s Region 3 east program engineer, introduced the team of Granite Construction and R.L. Wadsworth, contracted by CDOT as construction consultants during the concept development phase of the project.
“We are very excited to have the Granite/RLW team onboard to help us brainstorm ideas to minimize construction time and impacts to Glenwood Springs,” Elsen said. “This team has extensive experience with accelerated bridge construction and will be an enormous asset to our design team to support creative design and construction techniques. The construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) approach to project development and construction was recently used successfully on the Dotsero Bridge project and we believe that bringing a contractor on to support project design delivers the best possible project for the Federal Highway Administration, CDOT and the City of Glenwood Springs.”
The SWG evolved out of the Visioning Workshop held in December 2011 and has met five additional times to provide focused input on the Grand Avenue Bridge Environmental Assessment study. The group is now shifting its focus to more specific design elements that will help determine the character and feel of the Grand Avenue Bridge, the pedestrian bridge, and reconfiguration of the access from I-70 into Glenwood Springs.
In addition to SWG meetings, CDOT continues to meet with the project stakeholders and interested groups. The study team provides regular updates to the Glenwood Springs City Council and the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners. Interested individuals and groups are encouraged to contact Joe Elsen to schedule a project briefing or presentation. Or, citizens seeking more information may log on to www.coloradodot.info/projects/sh82grandavenuebridge. Those wanting to receive project updates can sign up via CDOT’s free message system by going to www.coloradodot.info and clicking on green cell phone in the upper right hand side of the page. After signing in, scroll down to “Projects” and choose “SH 82 Aspen to Glenwood.”
Environmental Assessment Background: CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are conducting the EA. All open house exhibits and other background information, documentation and a Frequently Asked Questions page are posted at http://www.coloradodot.info/projects/sh82grandavenuebridge.
