Demolition of County Line Road bridge near Monument scheduled to start Tuesday night

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- One of the last major phases of the Interstate 25 "Gap" widening project begins Tuesday night with the process of tearing down the overpass at the El Paso/Douglas county line.

The Colorado Department of Transportation will temporarily close I-25 in both directions under the overpass, known as the County Line Road bridge, for three consecutive nights to allow for demolition.

CDOT said that the work will cause traffic delays of up to 30 minutes during morning rush hour. Below is the demolition schedule:

Tuesday, July 6

·        Northbound and southbound I-25 closed – 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Wednesday, July 7:

·   Northbound I-25 closed – 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Thursday, July 8

·   Southbound I-25 closed – 7 p.m. to noon Thursday, July 8

Thursday, July 8 & Friday July 9:

·   Northbound I-25 closed – 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.

·   Southbound I-25 closed – 7 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The bridge demolition also will require closing County Line Road across I-25. Drivers can detour on Highway 105 through Palmer Lake and Monument west of the construction zone, and on Monument Hill Frontage Road to the east.

"Directing traffic, a lot of the traffic control people will be in place to make sure that we have traffic flows that continue safely through that area, just because that's a different traffic pattern when you're taking people off the interstate, up the off-ramp and down the on ramp, as well as traffic coming in from County Line Road," said CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson. "It works fairly well as a traffic control pattern."

After the closures this week, more will be needed occasionally for overhead bridge work, such as girder sets and deck pours. In addition, a six-week closure of the northbound I-25 on- and off-ramps at the County Line Road Bridge is required to reconstruct the ramps into a new alignment.

The old County Line Road bridge was built around 1964 and is one of five being replaced as part of the 18-mile I-25 South Gap project between Monument and Castle Rock.

The new County Line Road bridge will double in size to accommodate one through-lane and one turn-lane in each direction, and wider shoulders on each side. Vehicles are already using it.

CDOT expects to finish the entire bridge reconstruction by the end of the year; the $419 million Gap project remains on schedule and on budget with a projected completion date of November 2022.

Due to ongoing bridge construction, left turns are restricted for vehicles over 35 feet at I-25 and County Line Road.