Crane Accident Kills COSMIX Worker/E-470 Is DBIA's Top Owner/Wolf Creek Pass Work Under Way Again

A 30-year-old crane operator was killed in late April, marking the first serious accident for the $150 million Colorado Metro Expansion highway project.

Crane Operator Dies When Crane Tips Over

Humberto Rodriguez, 30, of Colorado Springs, was killed on April 23 while working on the Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion highway project.

It was the first construction-related death for the $150 million project. Rodriguez was operating a 30-ton, rough-terrain crane when the accident happened around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, just east of Interstate 25 near the northbound North Nevada Avenue off-ramp.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating the accident.

Rodriguez had worked for SEMA Construction since 1998. He was born and raised in Durango, Mexico, where was laid to rest. He is survived by his wife and three children.

E-470 Authority Named DBIA's 2006 Owner of the Year

The E-470 Public Highway Authority has been chosen as Owner of the Year by the Design-Build Institute of America for 2006.

E-470 was selected for its significant contributions in advancing the awareness, understanding and use of design-build project delivery.

The Owner of the Year is a new awards category for DBIA, with E-470 as the first recipient. The award was presented to E-470 officials this spring at the 2006 Design-Build Transportation Conference in Portland, Ore.

E-470 has previously completed two design-build contracts with a total value of nearly $600 million. The third and most recent design-build project is the construction of the Interstate 70 flyby.

Now under construction, the two-mi.-long flyby will eliminate stops at the traffic signals for E-470 through-drivers. The project also includes a fully directional flyover from northbound E-470 to westbound I-70. Construction started on the $58 million project in January 2005, with completion scheduled for October 2007.

E-470 is a tollway that runs along the eastern perimeter of the Denver metropolitan area. The 70-mph highway extends 47 miles from C-470 at I-25 in Douglas County, ending at I-25 near 160th Avenue in Thornton.

Construction Started Again This Spring on Wolf Creek Pass

The Colorado Department of Transportation and contractor Kiewit Western Companies resumed construction in early April on U.S. Highway 160, Wolf Creek Pass.

The work includes a one-half-mile stretch of U.S. 160 east of the new tunnel, from the Big Meadows Reservoir access road east (mile marker 174.7). Crews are blasting and removing rock, widening the lanes to 12 ft and shoulders to 8 ft and upgrading guardrails to meet current federal safety standards.

CDOT Completes Bridge Deck Rehabilitation

The Colorado Department of Transportation completed bridge deck rehabilitation work in late April on the ramp from westbound U.S. Highway 6 to westbound Interstate 70.

The rehabilitation consisted of rotomilling the existing asphalt, removing deteriorated concrete, replacing the bridge deck with new concrete, paving and striping.

Following the paving of the U.S. Highway 6 ramp, bridge rehabilitation began on Interstate 76 over the Union Pacific Railroad near U.S. Highway 85.

ABCO Contracting Co Inc. is the contractor for the $929,000 project, which should be complete by the end of this month.

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