Without warning to Castle Pines North residents, the southbound on-ramp to I-25 from Castle Pines Parkway (exit 188) was closed from 7:30 p.m. until midnight on the night of August 26. Traffic was detoured through Surrey Ridge.
According to Nabil Haddad of the Colorado Department of Transportation, “We did not have this closure in our plans originally, but after reaching final grade to prepare for paving the new I-25 on-ramp late in the day, there was a 3 foot drop-off along the edge of the ramp. From a safety standpoint, traffic had to be physically separated from this drop-off. The contractor had asked CDOT for permission to close the ramp for only one night in order to move the Jersey Barrier along the ramp from one side of the ramp (east side) to the other.”
The reason for an early evening closure on August 26 was due to safety considerations and the need for immediate action. Closures do not normally occur at such an early hour.
The entire Castle Pines Parkway Bridge will be closed on Monday, August 30 from 7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. On this night, concrete will be poured on the bridge deck. During the closure, traffic from Castle Pines Parkway traveling east and attempting to go north on I-25 will have to travel south to Happy Canyon and then turn around and go north. Northbound traffic attempting to exit I-25 at Castle Pines Parkway will have to travel all the way to Surrey Ridge, turn around, and travel south to the exit.
The entire bridge will again be closed for one night, approximately 6 months from now, to finish concrete work.
It is anticipated that there will be two more night ramp closures sometime before mid-September for paving operations. The closures, however, will begin at 9:00 p.m.
“The job has been going very well with no major accidents, we are on budget, and we are on time. The project is 30 percent complete, and we are anticipating the first half of the new Castle Pines Bridge to be complete within one month. The same progress is being made on the frontage road and the parking lot,” concludes Haddad.
Many CPN residents have been wondering why so many areas are being graded on the east side of I-25. All of the construction activity in the area east of I-25 and Castle Pines Parkway is related to the Bridge replacement project, not anything else, such as a home-building project.
- The large graded area just north of Castle Pines Parkway is related to a future carpool parking lot.
- Other grading is related to moving dirt to and from locations needed for the Bridge project. The construction company is using grading routes that are, in some cases, related to new roads slated for construction in the distant future, including a new frontage road that will lead from the parking lot north into Lincoln. Also, the construction company is working along a line going east, which will many years in the future, become a road leading to Parker.
Construction on the Castle Pines Parkway Bridge (exit 188 over I-25) began on Friday, May 21.
The Bridge is being replaced with a multi-lane expanded one that will provide a new bridge over I-25 with two lanes eastbound, two lanes westbound, and a center turn lane. A loop ramp will be constructed in the southeast quadrant providing a direct movement from eastbound Castle Pines to northbound I-25, and the northbound off ramp to Castle Pines will be relocated to allow the loop ramp construction.
on the Castle Pines Parkway Bridge construction or to see information on other CPN-vicinity construction projects, click here
