CDOT alerts drivers to upcoming major traffic impacts on I-25 near Monument
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- As construction on the south end of the Interstate 25 "Gap" widening project gears up, significant traffic impacts will begin Friday night and continue through next weekend.
Tamara Rollison, a CDOT spokesperson, provided the following schedule Thursday:
From 6 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday, the southbound I-25 entrance ramp on County Line Road will be closed. The southbound exit ramp at that interchange, and a lane of southbound I-25 through the interchange, will be closed from 7 p.m. Saturday until 11 a.m. Sunday.
The closures are necessary because crews will replace drainage by connecting new pipes under I-25. Crews will remove asphalt to install and connect drainage pipes buried more than 10 feet beneath the interstate. Following this work, crews will then replace the asphalt and restore traffic by re-striping the roadway.
The I-25 overpass at County Line Road will be affected four nights next week; southbound from 8 p.m. Monday until 5 a.m. Tuesday and for the same period next Friday through next Saturday; and northbound for the same hours overnight Tuesday and Thursday. On those respective nights, the overpass will be closed, as well as I-25 under the overpass and the ramps to and from County Line Road.
The closures coincide with the construction of a new overpass at that location. Traffic impacts could start as early as 6:30 p.m. on those periods. The existing bridge will remain in use during construction but will eventually be demolished.
Detours are expected to take 20 minutes, and the work is being done outside of heavier traffic times. For more information, visit: https://www.codot.gov/projects/i25-south-gap/traffic-alerts.
The Gap will widen I-25 from two to three lanes between Monument and Castle Rock, with one lane in each direction being an express (toll) lane. The cost of the toll has yet to be determined.
The project's budget increased from $350 million to $419 million when additional funding was needed to cover the construction of the County Line Road bridge, southbound I-25 Monument Hill truck climbing lane, southbound I-25 truck chain-up station and to address the issue of unsuitable soil found following the start of construction.
The project's scheduled completion date is November 2022.
