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A photo from May 2016 shows a temporary
concrete batch plant for the Cimarron/I-25 project that contractor Kraemer North
America operated for several months on the former hotel property (currently
owned by the state) southeast of Cimarron and Eighth streets. The batch plant was
dismantled this spring to make room for the new "quadrant roadway" being built
between those streets. Behind the equipment and material piles can be seen the
Sinclair (formerly Acorn) gas station, for which a new access will be provided
from the quadrant.
Construction starting on shortcut 'quadrant' between Cimarron & 8th
Over two years ago, when Kraemer North America came on board as the Cimarron/I-25 contractor, its design team saw something no one else had.It was a way to lessen traffic at the nearby intersection of Cimarron and Eighth streets, by giving motorists a shortcut to avoid it.
A Kraemer North America graphic shows the
planned "quadrant roadway" shortcut between Cimarron and Eighth streets. The
Cimarron/I-25 interchange (which won't be fully built to that configuration until
later this year) is at lower right. The numbered items identify features related to
the quadrant. Looking closely reveals lane designations. The optional "second
right turn" (number 5) on the southbound off-ramp was added to give drivers
enough distance on westbound Cimarron Street to access the left-turn lane at the
quadrant/shortcut.
Courtesy of Kraemer North America and
Colorado Department of Transportation
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It will connect to Cimarron west of the interchange ramps. A stoplight there will allow westbound Cimarron vehicles to make double-lefts onto the quadrant and eastbound quadrant vehicles to make double-rights onto Cimarron.
At the quadrant's other end, Eighth Street, south of the Sinclair gas station, a stoplight will be lined up with the southerly access to the Colorado Place shopping center (near the Popeye's).
By mid-July, barring delays, the roughly 800-foot-long, four-lane segment will be complete, according to project engineers.
An analysis by the contractor - confirmed by City Transportation - estimates that the quadrant will redirect enough traffic to result in 20 percent fewer vehicles at Eighth and Cimarron on weekdays and 40 percent on weekends.
“It will helps us to alleviate traffic backups,” summarized Dave Watt, CDOT's engineer for the interchange project.
The shortcut possibility became evident in 2014, after a defunct hotel was torn down on a 4.6-acre property CDOT had bought southeast of Cimarron/Eighth. The state had initially envisioned the site as merely a staging area for equipment during the interchange project, but after winning the $113 million project contract, Kraemer designed the shortcut option and offered it as a bonus “extra,” Watt said, before work started in May 2015.
Much of the new road will run through the former hotel footprint, just north of Fountain Creek.
Traffic impacts during construction will particularly be felt on Eighth Street between Cimarron and the new quadrant access point just north of the Fountain Creek pedestrian bridge. A press release warns of “intermittent overnight lane restrictions and full closures.” During the work, traffic will be shifted to the west. Two lanes will remain open in each direction during the day, with “intermittent single-lane traffic impacts.”
The Eighth Street work will include asphalt removals (to make room for an exclusive right turn from northbound Eighth onto the quadrant), paving, concrete pours, traffic signals, and an additional access to the gas station (from the quadrant).
As for the project as a whole, Kraemer and CDOT say that the interchange will be “operationally complete” by late October, with “landscaping/final detail work” continuing through December.
Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 5/2/17, updated 5/6/17;
Transportation:
Cimarron/I-25)
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