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Slow Going Ahead in 2023
from 3-9-23 Villager
by The Villager
• Concentrating widening for the new westbound travel lane on north side of Clear Creek Canyon. More rock excavation will happen next to westbound I-70, but no rock excavation will happen on south side of Clear Creek Canyon.
• Avoiding impacts to County Road 314, which will remain open during construction, and Clear Creek.
• New impacts to an archaeological site, which will require a treatment plan and memorandum of agreement with the State Historic Preservation Office.
westbound I-70 to the Hidden Valley/Central City Parkway interchange.
• Realigning eastbound and westbound elevated portions of I-70 over Clear Creek Canyon to separate alignments with a terraced hillside cut, rather than parallel viaducts with a larger hillside cut. Eastbound I-70 is still elevated but lower than the earlier concept and returns to existing grade near U.S. 6.
• Realigns an approximately 1,600-foot section of Clear Creek south near the Hidden Valley/Central City Parkway interchange (instead of a similar creek realignment in the West Section).
CDOT said there have been changes to the proposed work between Exit 243 (the Central City Parkway) and Idaho Springs. They include:
In January, CDOT reported the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) signed a “Finding of No Significant Impact” environmental assessment report for the I-70 Floyd Hill project.
Two smaller, related projects are already underway along I-70. They include construction of a $10 million wildlife underpass at Genesee, near mile marker 254.5, and a $9 million project that will create two traffic roundabouts on U.S. 40, At the intersections of County Road 65 and Homestead Road in Clear Creek County.
CDOT also plans to spend between $7 and $10 million to build a wildlife crossing area beneath I-70 at Empire – west of Idaho Springs – beginning later this year. The bridge will be near mile marker 257. Wildlife fencing also will be installed along both sides of U.S. 40 in the area in an effort to reduce the number of collisions between bighorn sheep herds in vehicles.
