US 285 at Kings Valley
About the Project
This project will design a grade-separated interchange at US 285 and Kings Valley Drive located in Conifer, Colorado. The interchange improvement will bring US 285 over the Kings Valley intersection. Cars will travel under US 285 to turn left at the intersection, allowing them to enter and exit Kings Valley Drive without having to cross multiple lanes of traffic on US 285. This project will help with improving safety, performance, and operations at this intersection.
CDOT Region 1 recognizes the US 285 and Kings Valley Drive Interchange Project as a regional priority project and identifies it as such in the CDOT 10-Year Plan. Review the CDOT 10-Year Plan, Region 1 listing under “US 285 Improvements near Pine Junction.”
Construction funding for the Kings Valley Interchange project is not available at this time, but CDOT is actively pursuing all funding avenues to fully fund and construct this project. To date, $5.7 million of FASTER Safety funds and $1M of Senate Bill 267 funds are allocated for this project.
CDOT is completing design and pursuing funding avenues in parallel, working to identify a 20% match to apply for federal grants.
Based on preliminary design, the interchange construction is expected to cost $50 million, with a total project cost of $60M.
Project Area
The project is located at the US 285 and Kings Valley Drive Interchange in Conifer, Colorado. The project is located in Jefferson County.
Project Benefits
- This project will help improve safety at this intersection and reduce the number of future crashes and severity of crashes.
- The grade separated interchange allows cars to turn left in and out of Kings Valley Drive by traveling under US 285, instead having to cross multiple lanes of traffic. This helps to improve the safety and operations at this intersection.
The project will create safer multimodal connectivity for the community north and south of US 285. Existing conditions require crossing five lanes of traffic with no pedestrian connections or sidewalks. - The creation of a south frontage road and the north frontage road relocation will help improve access and performance. The grade separated crossing will facilitate an uninterrupted flow of traffic through the interchange, similar to the other nearby intersections in the area.
- Traffic operations will be improved with the new interchange. The new grade separated crossing will help with the delays at this location.
- Impacts to the historic structures in the area will be avoided.
Schedule & Important Dates
- The project is anticipated to reach 30% design by early 2024.
- The construction schedule is to be determined based on funding.
In 2002, CDOT completed a feasibility study of the 53-mile corridor of US 285 from Foxton Road to Fairplay to identify future project needs based on future traffic volumes and patterns. The study identified a wide range of improvement possibilities, ranging from small, localized enhancements to major widening of segments. This plan was finalized in an Environmental Assessment (EA) in 2004 and concluded that US 285 should be widened to four lanes in addition to the following improvements:
- Richmond Hill Interchange
- Kings Valley Interchange
- Shaffers Crossing / Elk Creek Interchange
- Parker Road Interchange
- Deer Creek Interchange
- County Road (CR) 43A Interchange (by Developer)
- Pine Junction Interchange
- Mountain View Park-and-Ride Interchange
- Crow Hill Runaway Truck Ramp
Since 2004, the improvements at Richmond Hill (completed in 2007), Deer Creek (completed in 2009) and Shaffers Crossing (completed in 2011), as well as widening between Foxton Road and Richmond Hill are complete. These early phase improvements were selected due to a serious crash history.
The next improvement from the 2004 EA to will be the Kings Valley Interchange.
In late 2019 and during the re-evaluation effort, CDOT became aware of changed conditions at the project site since the completion of the 2004 EA, which include a historic property (i.e. Conley Coffee Shop), a historic district, and a conservation easement (Mountain Area Land Trust). An alternatives analysis effort in 2021 identified an alternative that reduces impacts to historic properties while still meeting the purpose and need of the project. Design is underway on this new alternative.
