Bridge repairs in Aurora to impact traffic on I-225 starting Sunday; site has seen several deadly crashes
The Colorado Department of Transportation announced that work will begin on the Interstate 225 bridges over 2nd and 6th avenues in Aurora, starting Sunday night. City leaders have been calling for repair work on that stretch of road for over two years after several deadly crashes.
CDOT and its contractor, Structures Inc., will begin work around 7 p.m. on Sunday. From 7 to 10 p.m. each night from Sunday through Thursday for the next three months, one lane of each direction of travel will close. Then from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning, two lanes will close and one will remain open. By 5 a.m. each morning, all lanes will reopen to traffic, according to CDOT.
Sunday and Monday, this will impact the northbound lanes of I-225. Tuesday and Wednesday, it will be in the southbound lanes. Then on Thursday, work will resume on the northbound lanes.
There will be a period later in the fall when northbound I-225 will completely close for five nights in a row.
The schedule can change based on weather or other factors, and motorists can track the progress of the project and get real-time updates on closures at COtrip.org or call the project hotline at 720-634-5333.
"These bridges have an elevated slope in the middle, and this project will help flatten the driving surface by putting down asphalt between the middle of the bridge and the approaches to each bridge," CDOT said in a statement. "Motorists are urged to drive with extra caution through the work zone, heed the signs, watch for crew members and equipment, do not speed and give plenty of following distance."
Aurora's traffic department called attention to the problem in July 2023. According to police, that area of northbound I-225 saw seven fatal wrecks in the nine months that followed. Four of the victims were teenagers.
"It comes at an angle. You're turning slightly as you hit the bump and at an excessive rate of speed, it will pick your car up and people are losing control," Aurora Councilman Steve Sundberg, vice chairman of the city's Public Safety Committee, said last year. "You can see the scrapes and the rubber on the concrete on the side of the road."
Bright orange signs were immediately installed in the area that read "damaged road" with a 55 mph speed limit, down from the interstate's 65 mph limit immediately north and south of the area.
Memorials for several of the teens killed on that stretch were erected after those crashes last year.
CBS News Colorado has requested updated crash data for that area.
