Highway 47 Improvements Underway

April 23, 2015 - Southeastern Colorado/CDOT Region 2 - PUEBLO — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is upgrading a 3.3-mile section of State Highway 47 from Dillon Drive to a point ½ mile east of Troy Avenue.

Work consists of rotomilling, asphalt paving, new concrete curb ramps and pedestrian crossing push buttons to meet current ADA standards.  The Bonforte Boulevard bridges will be rehabilitated with new concrete decks and new expansion joints will be installed on the Union Pacific Railroad, Fountain Creek and Jerry Murphy Road bridges, significantly extending the lifespan of each structure.

“Drivers have probably noticed the big asphalt bumps we’ve placed on eastbound Highway 47 at the Fountain Creek Bridge,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Joe DeHeart.  “To remove and replace the joints requires creating a three foot wide by one foot deep trench across both travel lanes.  By installing the bumps, we’ve created a temporary ramp to get up and over the work area, allowing us to keep all lanes of traffic open during the day.”

Lane closures will not be required on westbound Highway 47 since the bridge joints are up to standard and functioning well. 

CDOT’s normal lane closure procedure for this type of work would involve placing concrete barrier and closing one lane at a time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Even though closing a lane would have shortened the timeframe for the bridge work by a month, CDOT decided that due to high traffic volumes in this area, major delays would occur during the day if a lane was closed and extending the number of required work days about a month was the best option for the traveling public.    

Lane closures are only in place during nighttime work hours on Highway 47 when traffic volumes are low.

Nighttime work hours are 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., Sunday through Thursday.  All daytime work will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.  A reduced 40 mph speed limit will be in effect during work hours and at the bridge bumps. 

Construction is taking place in four phases:

  • Through May – Bridge joint work
  • May through August – Bridge rehabilitation at Bonforte Boulevard
  • May through June – Concrete ramp and sidewalk removal and replacement
  • July through October – Rotomilling and paving 

Martin Marietta Materials of Pueblo is the contractor for the $6.5 million project.  It is scheduled for completion in October 2015.

Additional information is available by calling the project hotline at 719-299-2939.

Traffic information about this or other CDOT projects is on the cotrip.org website, by calling 511 or via subscription e-mail or text.  To subscribe, please visit www.codot.gov and click on the small letter icon at the bottom of the page. The link takes you to a list of items you can subscribe to, including Southeast Colorado(Everything East of I-25 and South of I-70).