Groundbreaking for I-25 Gap project
Despite critics who doubted it would happen, the plan to widen 18 miles of Interstate 25 between Monument and Castle Rock officially begins with a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday.
“”If you look at 80-thousand vehicles over this 18 mile stretch, it doesn’t seem like that much. But just like water through a river, a slight increase in traffic backs everything up. This is going to allow us to avoid so much of that,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Even some of the strongest supporters of the I-25 Gap project are surprised that it’s happening so quickly — just two years after Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, during his annual State of the City address, challenged state officials to build the project.
In that time, $350 million in local, state and federal funds were acquired.
“The governor, legislature and (Colorado Department of Transportation), I criticized them for a couple of years in a row,” Suthers said. “Now I’m going to thank them for responding and getting this thing going sooner than anticipated.”
The project was demanded by local officials and drivers who complained about the gap being the only stretch of I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver with only two lanes in each direction.
Officials said the gap, because of its location and the state’s growing population, is prone to traffic congestion, crashes and weather impacts.
The project will widen and improve the gap’s four existing lanes and add two toll lanes, an inclusion that has been unpopular with drivers who already contribute taxes for the project.
CDOT said it is required to consider toll lanes when applying for federal funding, and that the lanes will provide travel reliability when needed while also improving travel in the free lanes.
Some elected leaders were unsuccessful in a late effort to have the project expanded to four lanes in each direction, to provide drivers with another option and to accommodate future growth.
Construction is scheduled for completion in late 2021 or early 2022.
Most of the work will be done in the center median, CDOT said, and will start Tuesday on the Castle Rock end.
Construction will continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with lane restrictions during the day. Lane and ramp closures will be only at night.
