e-Mail

Print

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) began a project to replace four timber bridges on State Highway (SH) 96, between the cities of Ordway and Eads.

Structures will be removed and replaced at:
• Black Draw (mile 114.5), 4 miles east of Sugar City — built 1932
• Unnamed Draw (mile 121.1), 9 miles west of Arlington — built 1948
• Unnamed Draw (mile 123.2), 7 miles west of Arlington — built 1948
• Unnamed Draw (mile 141.9), 2 miles west of Haswell — built 1936

Work at each location involves removing the old bridge and building a new bridge, road reconstruction, asphalt paving, erosion control, seeding, mulching, signing, and striping. Bridges one and two will be replaced first, and both are expected to open to traffic in January 2011. Work then begins on bridges three and four, with completion expected in May 2011. Construction began on Monday, Oct. 18.

“Each bridge is more than 60 years old and each one is structurally deficient,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Paul Westhoff. “In addition, about 30 percent of the vehicles that travel Highway 96 between Eads and Ordway are large trucks, so installing new structures, as well as widening shoulders, is a safety enhancement.”

Structures Inc. of Englewood, Colo., is the prime contractor. FASTER — Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery — is fully funding the $2.9 million project. Financed by vehicle registration fees, FASTER established a statewide bridge enterprise, funding the maintenance and repair of Colorado’s most urgent structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges.

For more information, visit www.coloradodot.info/projects/faster.