Fourmile Canyon Flood Recovery Projects Update - Lower Fourmile Canyon Project Public Meeting

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Hello -

Lawrence Construction has been retained to complete the work slated for two portions of lower Fourmile Canyon between CO 119/Boulder Canyon Drive and Salina Junction. Construction is anticipated to start shortly after Labor Day (Sept. 3), but there may be preparatory work taking place (mostly surveying) starting later in August. Once construction begins, work is scheduled to take one year, but there are incentives for an early completion.  

Pre-Construction Public Meeting 

Boulder County Transportation and Lawrence Construction will host a public meeting to share project information, like anticipated travel impacts and construction phasing, and answer questions. 

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018
6 to 7:30 p.m.
Boulder's West Senior Center - 909 Arapahoe Ave.

All project information will be available on the project website - www.4MileCanyon.com. 

PROJECT UPDATES

Logan Mill Road

Construction is progressing quickly on the new bridge and two retaining walls at Logan Mill Road and Fourmile Canyon Drive, and travelers are now using the new bridge to cross the creek. The drilling crew is focusing work on the remaining caissons for the wall above the bridge. They’re currently removing the concrete boxes that were the temporary crossing, because they’ll need this space to finish drilling the caissons for the wall. They anticipate that the last caisson will be drilled and poured by next Friday, Aug. 17. Work will then focus on forming the wall itself. After the wall is formed and poured, they’ll be able to open up Fourmile Canyon Drive to two lanes again, which they hope happens the final week of August. They also have crews working on the bridge itself to get it ready for paving, which is anticipated for the week of Sept. 3. It should take one day to complete all paving work.

The current plan for paving is to complete one lane of Fourmile Canyon Drive, so travel can be maintained at all times on that road. They’ll then move to the bridge, which will likely require a full closure of Logan Mill until the paving machine completes it’s passes over the structure. They believe it will take four to six hours to finish the bridge before it can be driven on again. We’re working out the details now, so I’ll have more exact information as we get closer to the actual paving date.

If all goes well, the bridge will be fully open and delay-free within the next 30 days. A photo of the the construction site is below. 

Gold Run Road

You may have noticed things are starting to slow down on Gold Run Road. The road has been paved and crews are just wrapping up guardrail. Stone masons are have been onsite for a few days cutting and applying rock to wall faces. This work will take some time to complete. Delineator posts will begin to be installed next week alongside the road. They’ll also continue cleaning up the materials they’ve left behind, including fencing, erosion control logs, and stakes. There still is some shouldering work to complete, and signage will soon follow after that. In addition to that, there are still a few sites that need work, so you can still expect to see SEMA crews and flaggers up and down that corridor in various areas. 

The environmental subcontractor will be on site next week to complete the remaining seeding and blanketing work that is required for slopes that have been disturbed by construction work. They plan to start planting trees in early September. A photo of the new road on Gold Run is below.

Upper Fourmile Canyon Drive (Salina to Sunset)

Crews in upper Fourmile Canyon are currently tackling multiple retaining walls, resurfacing the gravel portion of the road, and working on cross culverts all at the same time. Needless to say, there's a lot of activity up and down that corridor. They continue to use two-hour road closures with 30-minute openings that start at 8:30 a.m. each day to help give them room in this tight stretch of canyon. They have a lot of work to do, but they are tackling it head on. Soon they'll start prepping the road in Wall Street for paving, which they anticipate to start in mid-September. Paving will take a while and it won't be easy in the constricted working conditions, so we're working through the details now and will have more information to share as the date gets closer. Paving will take place between the junction and the current end of asphalt at the west end of Wall Street. 

Cycling Restrictions Remain in Effect

As you can see, there's still a lot of work going on, and even more is on the way, which means numerous trucks and heavy equipment are heading up and down the canyon each day. The last thing we want during flood recovery is a serious crash involving a construction vehicle and a cyclist and we think the danger is still to high to lift the daytime, weekday non-residential cycling restrictions, so they will remain in place for the time being. We know the roads in this canyon are important to cyclists, so we'll keep looking for ways to provide them some additional time on the roads. Until then, we thank everyone for following the restrictions and for helping to keep everyone safe.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, or concerns. 

Have a good day.

Sincerely,

Andrew Barth
Communications
Boulder County Transportation
abarth@bouldercounty.org
303-441-1032