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Northern Colorado Reservoir Expansion Complete/New Aurora Water Purification Facility Under Way/CDOT Announces List of Denver’s 10 Worst Bridges
Elkhead Reservoir Officially
Reopens to the Public
Elkhead Reservoir officially reopened after a 2.5-year project to enlarge the dam and double its water storage capacity.
The reservoir, located in Elkhead Reservoir State Park near Craig, now holds 24,788 acre-ft of water. The enlargement project, which finished on time and on budget, raised the dam crest 25 ft.
The enlargement provides 5,000 acre-ft of permanent water storage and up to 2,000 acre-ft of leased water annually to augment flows for endangered fish in the Yampa River during middle and late summer. The enlarged water supply may also help provide for future growth in Routt and Moffat counties.
The Colorado River Water Conservation District managed the enlargement project and funded $17.8 million of the $31-million cost. The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program funded the remaining $13.2 million.
The contractor for the project was Ames Construction and URS was the engineer.
Aurora Water Breaks Ground
on New Purification Facility
Aurora Water broke ground this summer on a new state-of-the-art purification facility.
The facility is a major component of the $754-million Prairie Waters Project, Aurora's plan for delivering as much as 3.3 billion gal. of water to the city annually by 2010.
Once complete, it will be one of the most advanced water purification facilities in the country, treating up to 50 million gal. of water per day. The project is being funded through tap fees and water rates.
CDOT’s List of Top 10 Worst
Bridges in the Denver Area
After the bridge collapse in Minneapolis early last month, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation released its list of the top 10 worst bridges in Denver and the estimated costs for repairing or replacing them.
CDOT is responsible for 3,757 bridges in Colorado. Of those, 110 are in need of replacement; 375 are in need of rehabilitation, which means repairing and replacing damaged bridge parts, not the entire bridge. This can include such items as the bridge deck or other steel parts.
CDOT spends approximately $30 million a year on bridge replacement and major rehabilitation projects. The department also tries to replace bridges with other funding sources combined with other projects, like interchange improvements. This level of funding does not allow replacement of high-dollar bridges like the elevated I-70 near the Denver Coliseum, estimated to cost between $200 million to $500 million. Here are the 10 worst bridge structures in Denver:
- State Highway 88 (Federal Boulevard) over Lakewood Gulch south of Colfax Avenue in Denver. This bridge is part of the Regional Transportation District’s west corridor light rail and will be designed and constructed as part of FasTracks. Estimated cost: $8-10 million
The project also includes guardrail replacement, minor bridge repair and minor shoulder improvements, erosion control and culvert pipe work, striping and seeding and mulch.
- U.S. 6 over the Burlington Canal near I-76 in Adams County. This bridge is now under design, but funding has not been identified. Estimated cost: $600,000
- I-25 over U.S. 85 (Santa Fe Drive). This project is under design, but funding is not available. Estimated cost: $55 million
- S.H. 58 over the railroad near Golden. This project in the early stages of construction. Cost: $8.5 million
- I-76 over the Union Pacific Railroad west of 74th Avenue in Adams County. This project is under design and should go to construction in spring 2008. Estimated cost: $7 million
- S.H. 7 over the South Platte River west of U.S. 85 in Adams County. This project is under design and should go to construction in spring 2008. Estimated cost: $7-8 million
- U.S. 285 over Willow Springs Road and Turkey Creek Road. This project is under construction. Cost: $5.1 million
- Washington Street over S.H. 58 in Golden. This project is under design and will go to bid this fall. Estimated cost: $6 million
- I-25 over 104th Avenue in Northglenn. Design is under way, but funding has not been identified. Estimated cost: $20 million
- I-25 over the South Platte River near the Walnut Street Viaduct in Denver. This project is under design, but no funding as been identified. Estimated cost: $22 million.
Budget Review Shows Potential
for $16B in Highway Cuts
This summer, the Bush administration released its mid-session budget review, which updated the data included in the President’s budget released in February. The February budget estimate forecasted a $700-million Highway Trust Fund shortfall in Fiscal Year 2009. The mid-year update increased the forecasted shortfall to more than $4 billion in FY 09.
Congress and the President will need to find additional revenues to plug the $4-billion hole or cut highway funding for FY 09 by an estimated $16 billion. The mid-session review also increased the forecast shortfall to $9 billion in 2010 and $15 billion in 2011. Transit funding could also be impacted long term because it is funded primarily by the Highway Trust Fund.
New Program Recycles
Construction Waste
Through a partnership with Forest City Stapleton, Denver’s A1 Organics has launched a first closed-looped sustainable program for construction waste.
Traditionally, residential and commercial builders send construction waste to landfills, but with this closed-loop program, materials such as scrap wood, damaged doors, pallets, waxed cardboard and are picked up from the construction site and taken to the onsite facility to be recycled into organic compost and mulch, which is then returned to the completed homes and offices for landscaping.
The program provides a way for homeowners, home builders and the construction industry to use locally created landscape materials, as opposed to importing materials from out of state. The recycling service is included in the contractual price for services to the contractor or developer by the construction cleanup company.
As of mid-summer, the A1 Organics’ Stapleton facility had diverted 408,392 cu yd of material from landfills.
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