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Bridge Answer Man column: Detours scheduled for bridge girder placement

Over the next few weeks, steel girders will arrive for the new Grand Avenue traffic bridge. If you have been downtown lately, it is becoming easier to see the new alignment for the new bridge

These massive girders provide the structural support for the new traffic bridge. They are 84 to 127 feet in length and weigh between 81,000 and 121,000 pounds — roughly two times the size and weight of the pedestrian bridge girders. The process of erecting these girders will be similar to the pedestrian bridge girder erection in July 2016.

These girders will be in transit from Texas for approximately three days. Weather can be a key factor in remaining on schedule. Crews can only set girders in winds of 15 mph or less, so this schedule is dynamic and will be adjusted if crews encounter bad weather or delays in girder delivery.



Hot Springs Pool Parking Lot



The steel girders are scheduled to arrive mid-February and will be staged on trailers at the old rest stop between Exits 114 and 116 and in the Hot Springs Pool parking lot. The first three girders will be erected in the Glenwood Hot Springs parking lot from the new bridge abutment to Interstate 70. Erection of the first three girders is scheduled from Wednesday, Feb. 15, to Friday, Feb. 17, with no additional traffic impacts anticipated. Pedestrian access will remain on the pedestrian walkway.

Westbound I-70 Night Detour

The remaining girders will span I-70, thus requiring traffic to be detoured off of I-70 and onto Sixth Street. The nights of Monday, Feb. 20, through Wednesday, Feb. 22, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following mornings, all westbound I-70 traffic will be detoured from I-70 onto East Sixth Street near the Yampah Vapor Caves. Traffic will be detoured on Sixth to the Exit 116 interchange for access to I-70 westbound.

Traffic on eastbound I-70 will remain in its normal configuration during these night detours. The Grand Avenue Bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the three nights into the following mornings. Pedestrian access will remain on the pedestrian walkway.

Full I-70 Night Detour

The nights of Thursday, Feb. 23, Monday, Feb. 27, and Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following mornings, all I-70 traffic will be detoured onto East Sixth. Both eastbound and westbound traffic will be reduced into one lane in each direction. The Grand Avenue Bridge will be closed from from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following mornings for the three nights of full I-70 detour. Pedestrian access will remain on the pedestrian walkway.

Eastbound traffic wishing to access Glenwood Springs and Colorado 82 to Aspen should exit early at the West Glenwood Exit 114.

Westbound I-70 traffic wishing to access Glenwood Springs will exit I-70 near Yampah Vapor Caves and follow the detour route to west Glenwood Exit 114.

When this work is complete, the new traffic bridge alignment will be evident.


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