US 36 Express Lanes

About the Project

The US 36 Express Lanes opened in March 2016. The project was a multi-modal public-private partnership led by CDOT, the Colorado High Performance Transportation Enterprise (HPTE) and Plenary Roads Denver (PRD)—the concessionaire that reconstructed the 16 miles of US 36.

In addition, crews on the project replaced several bridges, built the commuter bikeway, added bus rapid transit improvements, and installed Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for tolling, transit and traveler information, and incident management.

The project was one of firsts for Colorado:

• the first bus-on-shoulder program in the state;
• the first buffer-separated Express Lanes in Colorado;
• the first "commuter-specific" bike lanes along a Colorado highway;
• the first diverging diamond interchange in the Denver metro area; and
• the first active traffic management (ATM) system in the region.

The US 36 corridor was the first highway in Colorado to add the Express Lanes as part of a highway reconstruction.