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Warmer weather and hot asphalt are coming soon and that means the City of Glenwood Springs Streets Department, the Parks and Recreation Department, and contractors are gearing up for another busy construction season. This roundup covers brief updates on upcoming construction projects, but additional information is available on project webpages found under Ongoing Projects on the Open Gov tab of the City’s website.

Street Maintenance

As weather shifts from winter to spring, Streets crews will transition between snow plowing duties and temporary road patching. This time of year makes for difficult conditions for patches to stick due to temperature swings and intrusions from the freeze-thaw cycle. When moisture enters pavement and then freezes, it weakens or breaks apart patches.

Once temperatures warm and stabilize, Streets crews will do regular road maintenance including asphalt patches and striping as needed throughout town. While asphalt patches are temporary solutions, the City is making progress on a number of road redesigns and reconstructions.

“Drainage, proper roadway section design, and proper testing of the materials during construction makes for a long-lasting road,” said Public Works Director Matt Langhorst. “We’ve made steady progress on road reconstruction projects including Midland Avenue, Cedar Crest Subdivision, Red Mountain South Subdivision, Blake Avenue between the Roaring Fork Marketplace entrance and 29^th Street, and many other mill and overlay or chip seal projects over the last five years. We do still have a long list of work ahead, but we want to stretch our dollars as far as they can go by fixing underlying issues.”

Asphalt Projects – Cisar Court, Blake Avenue (Walmart to former gate), and Centennial Street

The City of Glenwood Springs each year looks at the roadway system and plans out crack sealing, chip seal and asphalt replacement projects. This year the city plans to replace asphalt on Cisar Court, mill and overlay Blake Avenue from the Walmart south parking lot to the old Blake Gate location, replace Centennial Street, and replace the intersection of Centennial and Devereux Road. The City also anticipates the completion of the paving on Red Valley Drive (which is currently 50% gravel) and the paving of the parking stalls along Mount Sopris Drive by the Red Cliff Apartments.

The Centennial Street project will remove existing paving on Centennial Street beginning the week of March 27 and then replace the asphalt the week of April 3. This is a shared cost project with the Iron Mountain Hot Springs, so this helps the city's dollars go further. Staff has already met with Frontier Paving and they are excited to get the projects scheduled and moving.

Nearby, the City will lift the Devereux Bridge (by Two Rivers Park) on March 22 and install the last four bridge bearing pads. This will require a day closure of the bridge beginning at 7:30 a.m. with crews anticipating the bridge to reopen later that evening.

The full replacement of Lincolnwood Drive was on the bid schedule also for this year, but the cost exceeded the budgeted amount. While this has been moved to the 2024 project list, City staff will continue to look for opportunities to add this back to the 2023 list depending on the status of other projects and funds.

Blake Avenue Design

The City is currently working on a Blake Avenue design project that starts at 7^th Street and goes all the way to 27^th Street, including 23^rd, 24^th and 26^th Streets as part of the design. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2024, most likely from 24^th to 27^th Street, including Blake Avenue, 24^th and 26^th street rebuilds. 

Over the course of 2023, the City will work with Kimley Horn to prepare design options for Blake Avenue from 13^th Street to 27^th Street for the community to review and share input. The goals of the redesign are to fix underlying issues, improve pedestrian and bike access and safety, evaluate traffic calming, and update utilities. There will be multiple opportunities for public comment beginning late this spring or early summer.

“The whole stretch of Blake Avenue north of Walmart is in bad shape and no amount of crack seal or chip and seal will solve it,” shared Langhorst. “By redesigning with community input and then reconstructing we can build a better road. The construction will start in phases, most likely in 2024. Until then, we will keep filling those potholes and completing larger patches where necessary.”

The City will also get to 10% design for Blake Ave. between 7^th and 13^th Street. This helps staff plan what the whole street section will look like through town and gives a starting point in the future.

Wulfsohn Road, East Meadows and West Meadows Roads (Glenwood Meadows)

A Request for Proposals (RFP) will be published soon for a large-scale removal and replacement project along most of Wulfsohn Road and all of East-West Meadows Roads. This would include milling and overlaying sections of road, complete asphalt and base material removal along a majority of the roads with a proper roadway section designed by a geotechnical engineer going back in place, removal of a significant portion of the smaller concrete island areas, some sidewalk areas, concreting of all bus pads, removal of some internal decorative islands, replacement of as many crossings as possible, and correction of multiple stormwater chases through the internal islands.

There is a lot that needs to happen to fix underlying issues and we are going to fix as much of it as we can this summer.  Coordination with the adjacent residents and businesses will be vital to the project’s success. If you’re interested in receiving project updates, contact Bryana Starbuck via email at bryana.starbuck@cogs.us or by phone at 970-384-6441.

Red Mountain North Phase 1

This project is a full road reconstruction in the Red Mountain North Neighborhood (Red Mountain Drive and W. 9^th Street) plus new sidewalks, curb and gutter, water system, added fire hydrants, new water services, curb stops, and sewer system. Phase I includes the area from the single-lane bridge to the north toward Yampah Mountain High School. This project is currently out to bid and depending on RFP responses, construction could begin in May.

Mount Sopris Drive

This summer crews will address drainage and parking issues with new curb and gutter and a small storm sewer system, adding a raised pedestrian crossing to Sopris Elementary and ball fields, and pave the parking area and the access to the adjacent residential areas. This work will improve the area to provide a safer route to the elementary school, improve drainage and facilitate easier maintenance. Shoulder work could begin prior to school summer break, but most of the work will happen while school is out for the summer. Staff is working with school representatives and the Community Center staff to discuss summer programming and will work with the residents in the area to keep traffic moving.

Access Line Breaks

City staff is working through design and permitting with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to build two access line (A-line) breaks on Interstate 70 (I-70) to allow a crossing from State Highway 6 (SH 6) to I-70 eastbound at Storm King and West 1st Street. The design and permitting are nearly complete for the Storm King access and is anticipated to be constructed this spring/summer of 2023 by city crews. Design and permitting work continues for the crossing at West 1st Street and is slated for construction in 2024.

Other Project Updates

Roaring Fork Pump Station

Crews completed the final tie-in by the Roaring Fork River and have reached substantial completion. There is still some site cleanup that will occur in the coming weeks, but the Parks crews will be able to begin work for the Xeric Demonstration Garden. The completion of this project is an important win for redundancy in our water system.

Xeric Demonstration Garden

At the north corner of Veltus Park at the intersection of 8^th and Midland, Parks crews will establish a Xeric demonstration garden to replace turf grass following work from the Roaring Fork Pump Station project. Whenever possible, Parks staff looks to replace non-functional high-water plants with plantings that consume less water. This demonstration garden will provide an opportunity to lower water usage and create community education about Xeric planting principles and illustrate how low-water landscaping can be both functional and beautiful. This project is anticipated to begin following site cleanup from the Roaring Fork Pump Station project.

27^th Street Underpass

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) is expected to begin construction this spring on the 27^th Street Underpass, a pedestrian and bicycle underpass at the intersection of 27th Street and State Highway (SH 82). The project will resolve serious safety concerns for the Rio Grande Trail at the intersection and will improve the safety of a large number of pedestrians crossing SH 82 to access the RFTA Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) facility. The City of Glenwood Springs has contributed $850,000 towards the approximately $17.9 million project. More information is anticipated to be released by the project team in the coming weeks.

LoVa Trail Connection

Phase 3 of the Lower Valley Trail (LoVa) is a portion of the Meet Me in the Middle partner project with the Town of New Castle, Garfield County and the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) that will extend the trail that currently ends at the West Glenwood Treatment Facility on the southwest side of town and extends it approximately 700 feet to the west and will end at a shade structure and outlook. This is a jointly funded project with funds from a Federal Mineral Lease District Partnership Grant sponsored by the Town of New Castle, with funding support from Garfield County, Roaring Fork Transportation District, and the Lower Valley Trail Association.

Beginning March 27 through approximately early May, motorists should anticipate a lane closure on eastbound I-70 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and reduced speeds.

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