Colorado Department of Transportation gets green light for I-270 corridor improvement project

After a six-year study, an $806 million project has been approved for a six-mile stretch of I-270 in Commerce City. More than 100,000 vehicles drive through the corridor from I-70 to I-25 every day.

"Man, it doesn't matter what time of day. It's always a cluster," said Brian, a commuter in Commerce City.

It's increasingly becoming a cluster of cars and safety concerns that even have some commuters changing routes.

"I avoid all of the highways," said Gayle. "There are so many people just not paying attention."

After a six-year environmental impact study, CDOT now has the green light to start work on the I-270 Corridor Improvement Project, a roughly $806 million effort to improve mobility and replace aging infrastructure along six miles of roadway.

"The study evaluated multiple alternatives to determine what would be the best solution for the corridor," said David Merenich, the I-270 corridor improvement project director. "We reached out to hundreds via hundreds of community events and tried to understand what the public needed and what they wanted."

With that environmental impact study, Merenich and his team were able to determine a preferred alternative to improving the interstate by adding an express lane in each direction of I-270.

"We'll be adding that the express lane will be free to transit vehicles or people who are driving and who have three or more people in their vehicle, and those who choose to pay a toll could also utilize the express lane," he said.

With an express lane, CDOT says traffic will be able to move more freely and help pay off some of the project.

Commuters welcome any changes that could improve the road.

"[The road] is holding up. It's doing its job," said Brian, "but it can only handle so much. Populations would grow too fast."

The first phase of the project, starting in October, will begin with a three-year effort to rebuild eight of the corridor's worst bridges.

"The city has grown so much that we're so behind on the infrastructure of the highways, and so ideally it'll make an improvement," said Gayle.

The remainder of the project, set to be completed by 2033, will include improving the I-76 on- and off-ramps from I-270, and completely reconstructing the Vasquez interchange.

It will also address mobility concerns for pedestrians and cyclists by adding an overpass and underpass at I-270 and Vasquez.

Folks from Central Commerce City can go directly underneath the ramps instead of along the road as they do now," said Merenich. "That directly connects to the Dahlia trailhead, which is a source for the Sand Creek Regional Green."

Leaders say that when all these changes are made, they hope it will connect the community in a safer and more reliable way.

"[So] that the stakeholders and the public and the community that we've worked with for the last three years are proud of what we've come up with," said Merenich.

CDOT is also working on a microtransit program that would be launching in conjunction with some of its partners to allow residents to get transported for free from their homes to nearby RTD facilities or other transit stops during I-270 construction. They believe the program will kick off in 2027.