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Busy year planned for Glenwood street projects

John Gardnerjgardner@postindependent.comGlenwood Springs, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS Glenwood Springs City Engineer Mike McDill says that this summer is going to be a busy one for street construction and maintenance projects in town.We are a little busier than usual, McDill said. We usually do about $2 million to $2.5 million worth of work each year, and we are well over that this year.The city of Glenwood Springs has more than $5 million in street projects budgeted for construction in 2009. Funds come through the citys Street Tax Fund, a 20-year half-cent tax passed by voters in 2005, along with money from other grants.Construction projects include: $1.6 million budgeted for the third phase of the Donegan Road reconstruction project which began in 2007, $170,000 for the third phase of traffic calming on Midland Avenue, $1.4 million for a roundabout at 27th Street and Midland Avenue, and $1.6 million for completion of the Devereux Road pedestrian bridge.It adds up pretty quickly, McDill said. The city also has $588,778 approved for various street maintenance projects, most of which are resurfacing jobs.The 27th Street and Midland Avenue intersection project, which was first thought to be completed in 2008, is now scheduled to begin as early as May. McDill said he hopes to have the project bid out to contractors in April. That project is a partnership between the city and Roaring Fork Lodge, LLC, which plans to build a five-story, nearly 150,000 square-foot lodge adjacent to the intersection.Roaring Fork Lodge, LLC, has signed on to include the construction of the roundabout with its lodge project, but the city is funding the intersection.Work on calming efforts for Midland Avenue was bid out to Gould Construction and is scheduled to begin in May as well, and should take about six weeks to complete, McDill said. However, commuters will have to find alternative routes for a portion of the project, which will hinder travel to a single direction along Midland for about two weeks during the project, according to McDill.Features will include raised pedestrian crossings, sections of a landscaped median, and three raised speed tables designed to keep traffic below the posted 25 mph speed limit.Close to three years after city council approved the location of the Devereux Road pedestrian bridge, work is scheduled to commence this summer. The city hopes to have the project bid out in April as well with hopes that preliminary work could be done this summer but waiting for the bridges to be constructed could take a while.What will take a long time will be fabricating the bridges, McDill said. It could be into November before the bridges are built.The extent of work to be done on the Donegan Road project depends on how much money the city will receive through outside grants, according to McDill. Last week, McDill was in Denver requesting $2 million in grant money to go toward the that project.The Devereux pedestrian bridge and the 27th Street roundabout will receive partial funding from the States Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Grant Program, according to McDill. Garfield County is contributing $200,000 to the roundabout construction as well.Contact John Gardner: 384-9114jgardner@postindependent.com


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