US 160 Grandview 4th Lane and Interchange Update

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LA PLATA COUNTY, Colo. – The Colorado Department of Transportation is moving forward to complete the US 160 Grandview interchange, designed to meet safety and capacity needs along the corridor in 2025 and beyond. Construction on the fourth lane (a second westbound lane into Durango) and partial interchange now underway began in July 2008 and is scheduled for completion by the fall of 2010.

INTERCHANGE WILL MEET FUTURE TRAFFIC & SAFETY NEEDS:  A fully-functional US 160 interchange will be completed by late 2011. The interchange may or may not include a connection with US 550 in the future—that connection point will be determined via a reevaluation process in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration. This process could take up to two years.

This interchange is one of three grade-separated (unsignalized) interchanges selected in the 2006 Record of Decision to meet future safety and capacity needs on US 160 through Grandview. Future potential land uses in the area are identified in the City of Durango’s 2004 Grandview Area Plan, a “vision for the next 20 years.” In the Plan, there are provisions for a regional retail center and hospital campus, three school sites, roughly 5,467 units of single-family and multi-family housing, recreational amenities such as a regional park, local parks, pedestrian and bike pathways throughout the study area and extending outside the study area, and street circulation improvements. Future average daily traffic volumes on US 160 through Grandview are projected to be 87,900, according to CDOT estimates.

INTERCHANGE CONSTRUCTION & COSTS:  The current phase of interchange and highway widening work was contracted to SEMA Construction for $26.7 million (the total project cost is $34.4 million). Included in this project cost are the construction and paving of a fourth lane (2/3 of a mile long), four interchange bridges, six highway retaining walls, sub-structure work for two interchange ramps, earthwork for a 2,020-linear foot shared-use path, path retaining walls, a new signal at Farmington Hill, highway lighting, landscaping enhancements, wetlands mitigation, drainage improvements traffic control, signing and striping. (The total cost of the main overpass bridge is $6 million, including design and construction.)

Two more project phases will complete a functional US 160 interchange in this location, which is approximately one-half mile east of Farmington Hill. The interchange will have independent utility without a US 550 connection, accommodating future growth and projected traffic volumes, facilitating east-west travel and providing safe and direct access to current and future development north and south of US 160.

With phase I underway, phase II is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2009 and will include construction of an eastbound off-ramp (Ramp B) and ramp work on the north side of the highway. Phase II—which will be advertised to prospective contractors this summer—will be completed with $4 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Phase III will begin in 2011 and complete the interchange with bridge tie-ins, roundabout construction and paving. This final phase has a budget of $15 million, from state and federal funds, for an interchange project total of about $54.5 million.

CURRENT WORK AND TRAFFIC IMPACTS:

Lane closures/restrictions on HWY 160 between Farmington Hill and Grandview may be as follows: 

• This month crews will remove the steel false-work from under the new overpass bridge. For safety, this work will require up to four consecutive nighttime closures of US 160. Closures will be from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. More information will be provided as the dates are known.
  
• Crews will also be painting bridges and retaining walls.
  
• The fourth lane will be opened to traffic by this August.
  
• Daytime traffic may be reduced to one lane in each direction between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
  
• Nighttime traffic may be reduced to one lane in each direction between 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

For further information regarding the Phase 1 construction, call the Project Information Line, 970.903.3999, or email the SEMA Project Information Manager at [email protected]. Additional updates and maps are also available at www.dot.state.co.us/us160/durango, and for information on other CDOT projects statewide, the public may log on to www.cotrip.org or call 511 from anywhere in the state.

 

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