CDOT Region 5 Announces 2015 Construction Program

June 4, 2015 - Southwestern Colorado/CDOT Region 5 - Estimated $94 million in roadway and traffic/safety improvements, additional in partnership projects.

SOUTWEST/SOUTH-CENTRAL COLORADO – The Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Region 5* will have an estimated $94 million in roadway, traffic and safety improvement projects underway this 2015 construction season. Work will include some 23 projects that address roadway and bridge construction, traffic and safety (e.g., signals, intersection upgrades), culverts, retaining walls, rock fall mitigation and more.

The 23 projects will involve work on:

  • 68 linear miles of highway (plus an additional 750 miles of highway striping)
  • 10 bridges
  • 6 culverts
  • 4 intersections
  • “Other” including:  1 rock fall site, 1 wildlife underpass (and wildlife fencing), 4 crib walls, 1 major drainage system, 1 slow vehicle pull-out

“Most of our projects this season focus on maintaining our existing infrastructure,” CDOT Region 5 Transportation Director Kerrie Neet said. “We are waterproofing bridges, rehabilitating pavement, repairing retaining walls, doing what we can to extend the life of our assets, some of which were constructed more than 50 years ago.”

A few of the projects noted in the attached 2015 Traffic Watchers brief will be receiving RAMP funding. RAMP, or Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships, is a short-term practice whereby CDOT is funding multi-year projects based on year of expenditure rather than saving for all phases. RAMP has provided for more than 40 partnership projects statewide totaling $580 million and an additional $66 million in operations projects. Partnership project funding was applied for and matched by local agencies to accelerate priority projects in their areas; operations projects are those identified by CDOT to address specific highway system needs statewide, such as highway shoulders, roadside fiber optics or signal upgrades.

Also detailed in this year’s Traffic Watcher’s brief are 13 Local Agency projects totaling $16.9 million. These are typically funded in part through the federal Transportation Alternative’s Program (TAP), administered by CDOT and matched by the local agency. As noted in the brief, some of these local agency projects, however, are funded through RAMP or FASTER (see details attached).

The 2015 Region 5 Traffic Watchers project brief will be updated as projects are awarded and will updated online.

PROJECT INFORMATION: Updated information regarding traffic impacts on this or other CDOT projects is available at https://www.codot.gov/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html or by calling 511. To receive project updates via wireless device or e-mail, visit www.codot.gov and click on the  icon at the bottom of the page. The link takes you to a list of items/areas you can subscribe to.

*CDOT Region 5 includes the counties of:  Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Chaffee, Dolores, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Montrose (southwestern section), Ouray, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan and San Miguel.