Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Adams County Breaks Ground on Pecos Street Grade Separation Project


The Adams County Board of Commissioners celebrated the beginning of a long-awaited project with a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. The Pecos Street Grade Separation Project will build a bridge on Pecos Street over the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks from Pecos Street just south of I-76.

This $37 million project has been in the planning stage for several years. The county and the Union Pacific Railroad began talking about grade separating the Union Pacific tracks from Pecos Street in 2000. The last two years were spent designing the project, identifying funding resources and planning how to proceed with construction while minimizing the impact to area residents and businesses.

“This project has brought together partners to address a regional issue,” said board chairman Larry W. Pace. “We are excited that the talking, planning and designing are complete and the construction will begin.”

Funding for the Pecos Street Grade Separation Project oject includes almost $14.6 million in federal dollars, including $4.45 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. Union Pacific will contribute $14.4 million.

The project will provide regional commuter and freight movement improvements and eliminate current safety hazards related to trains blocking Pecos Street for inordinate amounts of time. Grade separating Pecos Street from the railroad tracks will improve connections between three major roadways: I-70, I-76 and U.S. 36, and is a key portion of RTD’s proposed FasTracks Vision Plan, benefiting the proposed Northwest Rail Line and the proposed Gold Line. The bridge will allow a joint cross station platform at the future Pecos Junction Station.

As a companion project to the grade separation, the county is currently building the 62nd Parkway project. This parkway is needed to provide better access to and from the new grade separation for businesses east of Pecos out to Broadway.

Construction is scheduled to take 18-24 months. Adams County Construction Manager Rene Valdez will oversee the daily progress of SEMA Construction, Inc.

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