CDOT will be replacing two bridges near Antero Junction this spring. The timber bridges, originally built in the late 1930s, will be updated to modern standards.
“It will include replacing the entire bridge structure, so it’ll be a while,” said Bob Wilson, statewide programs communications manager for CDOT. “It’ll be a wider bridge, including having shoulders, obviously a new road service. It’ll replace the old timber bridge with a more standard concrete bridge structure with steel bridge rails and more of a contemporary bridge design style, as opposed to the bridges built in the 1930s.”
“U.S. 24 existed before 1938, back to the late 1920s,” said Wilson. “There are a lot of old timber bridges in South Park and the area. … These (Antero Junction) bridges on U.S. 24 date to 1937 and 1938. They’re all bridges that were built just prior to World War II.”
Wilson said these original bridges haven’t been updated since their original construction.
“In some cases, there was not that much car travel, but there were structures there to cross these draws, and sometimes there weren’t,” Wilson said. “People would be able to drive through a dry riverbed or a dry creek or a dry draw or something like that. These are the original bridges from 1937. They haven’t been widened or anything.”
CDOT will be meeting this week to discuss the project in more detail. Due to the wide range of how the project can be completed, Wilson says that there could be either a detour or widening one side at a time, allowing traffic through.
“There are different options, like choosing to keep a roadway open but still constructing the bridge,” he said. “We have to do that quite often with structures on an interstate where you have to keep the highway open. You can’t close it and detour people on another roadway, you have to keep the interstate open, like we’re doing in Colorado Springs next week.”
“We’re going to have to close U.S. 24 as it stands right now, and so we expect the closure to take approximately one month,” Wilson said. “It’ll be a full closure of U.S. 24, so there’s going to be a fairly long detour from Hartsel north on Highway 9 to Fairplay, and then Fairplay on 285 back to Antero Junction.”
Wilson estimates the project will start in late spring, around April, May or early June. More details will be available closer to the start of the project. The two bridges are located at mile markers 227.1 and 229.5 on US 24.
“Obviously, there’s more information to come once we get a little bit closer to breaking ground,” he said. “There’ll be more specific information regarding traffic impacts for the closure and the detour that will be used. So, yeah, a lot more to come.”
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.