Signal planned for 27th and Grand in Glenwood Springs

New four-way stoplight expected to cost around $250,000

By Pete Fowler
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
March 27, 2008

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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Drivers heading to work over the Sunlight Bridge may encounter a new stoplight this year designed to ease traffic congestion.

A four-way stoplight would go in at 27th Street and South Grand Avenue, which is the intersection at the east end of the Sunlight Bridge.

“That gets backed up pretty bad in the mornings and evenings,” said assistant city engineer Steve Vanderleest.

The city received three bids on the construction work Wednesday. The lowest bid appears to have come in at around $250,000, from WL Contractors of Arvada, Vanderleest said.

City staff hopes to have the bid approved at the next City Council meeting and work would begin hopefully within a few months to be completed this year, Vanderleest said.

The PBS&J engineering firm produced a report that identified the intersection as one of the problem intersections in town that could benefit from a traffic signal, Vanderleest said.

Currently, an average of nearly 12,000 vehicles cross the Sunlight Bridge each day, he said.

In June 2006, PBS&J said the intersection was failing the northbound and southbound traffic, which averaged a 50 second delay per vehicle or more. A roundabout — although expected to better deal with future traffic increases — was not considered at the intersection because of its location right next to the bridge.

PBS&J predicted the traffic signal would allow the intersection to operate at 10 seconds or less of delay per vehicle on average. In 20 years, PBS&J predicted, the intersection would average a 20 to 30 second delay per vehicle with a stoplight.

Contact Pete Fowler: 384-9121
pfowler@postindependent.com