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| 3/7/2008 11:12:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | CR 43/72 underpass construction starts mid-June
Lynda James
Correspondent
Construction of an underpass at the top of Crow Hill is scheduled to begin in mid-June. It will replace the existing light at the intersection of County Roads 72 and 43. The underpass will be just south of the Platte Canyon Fire Protection District Station No. 2.
That message was delivered to about 35 Park County citizens by Colorado Department of Transportation Red Rock Resident Engineer Stephen Harelson at a Feb. 26 meeting at Platte Canyon Fire Station No. 2.
He oversees operations on U.S. 285 from the Morrison area through Park County to the Chaffee County line, as well as Colorado Highway 9 in Park County and Colorado Highway 74 in Jefferson County.
The current light and intersection will stay operational until the underpass is functional in October of this year. A final layer of asphalt will be laid next spring to complete the project.
Harelson said that the stoplight by the Loaf 'N Jug at CR 43A and U.S. 285 would remain, and it would be a full-movement intersection.
At the first meeting by Harelson held in November 2007, residents had asked that the CR 43A intersection be changed to a "right-in and right-out only" intersection and the stoplight be eliminated.
In November, residents expressed concern that accident rates would increase at CR 43A when the underpass at CR 43/72 was built unless the 43A stoplight was removed. About one-quarter of a mile separates the two intersections. They reasoned that after climbing Crow Hill, traffic speeds would increase as vehicles traveled down to CR 43A.
At the Feb. 26 meeting, Harelson said that accident reports confirmed that the CR 43/72 stoplight was the most dangerous, with 17 accidents in the past three years. He said most were broadside accidents.
"This is the one that's dangerous. This is the one that needs [to be] fixed," he said.
In the same time frame, Harelson said three accidents were reported at the CR 43A intersection. Eleven were reported at that intersection in the two and a half years before the light was installed.
He stated that CDOT did not think accidents would increase when the underpass was completed because long sight distances exist in both directions.
He also repeated the message that CDOT would not install a grade-separated intersection at CR 43A when traffic warranted one. That cost would be required of the developer of Deer Creek Corners, just as the cost of a grade-separated intersection was required of the developers of the new Safeway shopping center in Conifer.
He also said that CDOT's contract with the developer of Loaf 'N Jug stated the light would remain a full functioning stoplight. He said the developer had paid part of the cost of the light. Park County and CDOT also paid part of the cost.
Some residents voiced concern about traffic back-ups at the CR 43A light during the summer tourist season. One suggested CDOT remove the light and create long acceleration lanes as had been done at Kings Valley.
"We'll keep a close eye on it for the next two or three years," Harelson said. If accident rates spike at CR 43A and U.S. 285, a right-in and right-out could be required.
Harelson said that during construction of the underpass, CDOT would build a detour for CR 72. About 800 feet of CR 72 will be realigned and another 400 feet will be resurfaced.
On the other side of U.S. 285, the access road in front of the fire station will be resurfaced from the new underpass to where the current CR 43 intersection is located.
The access road will also be widened to 24 feet, so traffic will be able to pull off to the side of the road when emergency vehicles are called out.
Shoulders on U.S. 285 and on the underpass will be 10 feet wide to allow bicycle and pedestrian traffic, as well as allow traffic to pull off the road when emergency vehicles pass.
Kathleen Reasoner, assistant chief of North Park County Ambulance, supported the design for safety reasons. She said the severity of accidents at the intersection of CR 72/43 and U.S. 285 has been greater than the severity of the accidents at CR 43A and U.S. 285.
At the November meeting, residents had asked if the Environmental Assessment for U.S. 285 could once again be put on CDOT's Web site.
Harelson said at the February meeting that he had been having difficulty getting it posted on the Web site. He did provide CDs of the EA to anyone who wanted one.
The Crow Hill grade-separated intersection is called the Deer Creek Interchange in the EA. It was proposed north of the current CR 43/72 intersection. Due to land acquisition costs and projected impacts to wetlands, it was moved to south of the intersection and changed from an overpass to an underpass.
The EA identified seven grade-separated intersections on US 285 between Foxton Road in Conifer and Bailey. Two will not be funded by CDOT. Those are at CR 43A and at Wandcrest Road in Pine Junction. The Wandcrest one will provide access to the Tanglewood Reserve development in the Will-O-Wisp Metropolitan District's service area.
Harelson said the next grade-separated intersection scheduled for construction by CDOT is at Shaffers Crossing. Construction is planned for 2009 and 2010. It will include a wildlife crossing.
Pine Junction is second on the list, and the intersection there will probably be built in five years if the Highway Users Tax on gasoline is not increased.
Harelson said bills are now moving through the Colorado Legislature to ask voters to increase the tax.
According to Harelson, Roland Valley will probably be the last grade-separated intersection to be constructed because of the complexity of building a fly-over and impacts to wetlands, which will need to be replaced on an acre-per-acre basis. That construction is several years out, he said.
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