Douglas County contributes $1.2M into redesigning I-25 ramp at Happy Canyon Road
The project, which has been in the making since 2012, intends to make improvements on the Happy Canyon Road interchange in Castle Pines
Douglas County Commissioners on Tuesday approved chipping in $1.2 million toward designing a reconstructed interchange at Interstate 25 and Happy Canyon Road in Castle Pines.
The project to reconstruct the 1965-built interchange could cost upwards of $40 million, according to Douglas County officials.
City, county and state officials plan to widen, reconstruct and provide better ways of access to the interchange described by engineers as outdated. The goal, officials said, is to accommodate future road traffic increases between Denver and Colorado Springs.
Both Castle Pines and Douglas County are partnering with the Colorado Department of Transportation on the project that potentially could cost between $34 million and $40 million, according to Art Griffith, Douglas County’s transportation capital improvement program manager.
Douglas County’s $1.2 million contribution will go toward the project’s design costs of $4.8 million. Of that, $4.2 million pays for consultant services, according to Griffith.
The Castle Pines City Council is poised to pick Jacobs Engineering Group to the project, according to the city’s intergovernmental agreement.
The project, which began in 2012, is supported by the Denver Regional Council of Governments Transportation Improvement Program. Last year, Castle Pines received a $2.6 million grant from the council for the project.
A grant application said increased traffic over the years will completely “deteriorate” the ramps and Happy Canyon Bridge by 2040 and that latter is “nearing the end of its life and is very close to being structurally deficient and unsafe.”
During Tuesday’s county meeting, District 1 Commissioner Abe Laydon questioned whether the $4.2 million is too much for consultant services.
In response, Griffith told Laydon that the design process has to “advance several alternatives,” which are determined by studies to find out the type of ramp modification needed, any noise barriers, increased traffic studies and its effect on the environment.
Whether it would ultimately cost $34 million or $40 million depends on whether the Colorado Department of Transportation’s bridge is going to be replaced or not, Griffith said.
“It just always seems like a lot,” Laydon said. “You know, over half of the county’s budget goes to traffic.”