CDOT Team Wins Environmental Award/Construction Begins on Hogback Facility/IHC Lands Contract for E-470 Improvements

A Colorado Department of Transportation Region 5 team was awarded the CDPHE's Bronze Environmental Achievement Award for their work on hazardous waste remediation near Uravan. The effort may have saved CDOT millions of dollars of potential cleanup costs if the agency had later been required to remove and dispose of the materials.

CDOT Team Wins Environmental Award

Members of a project team from Colorado Department of Transportation's Region 5 were given the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment's Bronze Environmental Achievement Award for their work on hazardous waste remediation near Uravan.

Recipients were Patricia Martinek, hazardous materials and sustainability coordinator; Kerrie Neet, Region 5 planning and environmental manager; Kyle Lester, Region 5 project manager; and Tony Cady, Region 5 environmental specialist.

As part of a S.H. 141 safety project to correct a pair of hazardous curves in the roadway - completed in June - CDOT proactively cleaned-up approximately 51,000 cu yds of uranium tailings, hazardous radioactive waste materials, under and adjacent to the highway.

The removal effort required extensive coordination, communication and cooperation between CDOT Region 5 environmental and engineering staff, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, UMETCO and two separate contractors. The site has now been cleaned and the EPA is expected to de-list S.H. 141 from Superfund liability this fall.

The effort may have saved CDOT millions of dollars of potential cleanup costs if CDOT had later been required to remove the materials and dispose of them in a hazardous waste landfill.

Construction Begins at Hogback Parking Facility

The Colorado Department of Transportation held a groundbreaking in late September to celebrate the start of construction at the Hogback Parking Facility in Golden.

Located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 40 and Morrison Road, just north of Interstate 70 at Exit 259, the reconstruction of the Hogback Parking Facility includes adding 560 parking spaces to the current 200, reconfiguring the U.S. 40/Morrison Road intersection, realigning U.S. 40 around the new parking lot and adding a signal-controlled intersection.

Other improvements include additional lighting, new retaining walls, drainage upgrades, landscaping, signing and striping. Both traffic signals at the bottom of the I-70 ramps will also be upgraded.

Before designing the Hogback Facility, CDOT looked at alternative locations for a new and expanded parking facility. In addition, Jefferson County was heavily involved in the planning process. The county commissioners also directed Jefferson County Open Space to do additional analysis and study alternative locations.

Kelly Trucking Inc. is the contractor for the $7.8 million project.

Highway Reconstruction Now Under Way in Castle Rock

The widening and reconstruction of Interstate 25 through Castle Rock began this fall.

The Colorado Department of Transportation project is a concrete reconstruction, widening the highway from two to three lanes in each direction between Founders/Meadows Parkway and Fifth Street (2.7 mi.). Work also includes realigning the south segment, new storm sewers and box culverts, guardrails, lighting, signing, striping and landscaping.

A temporary detour will be built just east of the current northbound lanes as part of the first major phase of construction. Preparations include barrier placement, clearing and brush removal and initial dirt work outside the traffic lanes for the next several weeks.

Overnight operations requiring lane closures began last month.

Interstate Highway Constructors of Englewood is the contractor for the $18.9 million project, scheduled for completion in spring 2008.

Washington Group Wins Two-Year CDOT Contract for Materials Testing

CDOT Region 4 in Boulder selected The Washington Group International a contract to provide materials testing and inspection services for the reconstruction of Interstate 25 from State Highway 52 to State Highway 119.

The work will be performed out of Washington Group's Denver office.

IHC Lands Contract for Jordan Road Interchange Improvements

The E-470 Public Highway Authority awarded Interstate Highway Construction a $1.05 million contract for improvements to the Jordan Road interchange in Douglas County.
A second lane will be added to the eastbound on-ramp and westbound off-ramp for additional service to ExpressToll customers.

The new lanes are in addition to several other previous improvements made to the Jordan Road interchange, including bridge widening and traffic signals at the ramps.

Once completed, ExpressToll customers will be able to pay the toll electronically in the new ramp lanes, bypassing the cash-paying customers in the left-hand lanes.
ExpressToll is available in all lanes on E-470. The enhancements were designed to improve traffic flows during high traffic volume.

Construction began in November, with completion expected next May.

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