DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — The reopening of eastbound C-470 was delayed because of overnight construction on Friday morning, the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The highway between University Boulevard and Quebec Street was scheduled to reopen at 5:30 a.m., but CDOT said crews still had some items to complete before reopening the highway.
“What they got hung up (on) specifically, is striping operations toward the Quebec area, then leveling out new pavement out with old pavement,” C-DOT’s Stacia Sellers told FOX31.
She said the difference between the new pavement and old pavement was about nine inches and crews spent time leveling that out.
“(That) is quite a big leap and probably could damage a few cars,” Sellers said. “Som we wanted to make sure we had that leveled out and made sure everything was safe and good to go.”
Also, Sellers said a striping truck broke down, causing delays.
She said C-DOT and the construction crews had a meeting Friday morning to talk about what went wrong and address the issues so they don’t happen again.
One lane reopened at 6:10 a.m., and a second lane was reopened just before 7 a.m. Traffic backups were cleared by 7:15 a.m.
The highway closed at 9:30 p.m. Thursday so crews could perform a traffic switch onto permanent concrete pavement as part of the C-470 Express Lanes project.
The closure was supposed to happen Friday night into Saturday, but CDOT moved it up 24 hours because of expected rain moving into the area.
Eastbound C-470 from Quebec Street to Interstate 25 will be closed on Monday and Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. each night for a traffic switch onto new permanent pavement.