Traffic Light to Be Removed at 96th Avenue and Peoria Street in Commerce City

North Gate at Rocky Mountain Arsenal Closed, Signal No Longer Needed

COMMERCE CITY, Colo.--A traffic light at the intersection of 96th Avenue and Peoria Street in northeast Commerce City, Colo., will be removed at the end of January.


In cooperation with Commerce City, the U.S. Army installed the light in 1999. The goal was to facilitate the safe flow of traffic, as workers entered and exited the North Gate of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal during the environmental cleanup of the former chemical manufacturing site. After fieldwork ended in 2010, the Army closed the North Gate to regular use.

The removal of the light will allow traffic to move freely across the busy 96th Avenue corridor. To alert and give drivers time to adapt to the change, the Army will maintain a flashing yellow light and electronic signage at the intersection throughout January. The traffic light will be removed entirely on Feb. 1.

Visitors to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge should continue to enter via the public entrance at the intersection of 56th Avenue and Havana Street.

“Safety has always been our top priority, and installing the light allowed us to move workers on and off the site without compromising traffic safety for the community,” noted Charlie Scharmann, U.S. Army program manager at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. “With the environmental cleanup concluding, we decided to reduce the number of entrance points onto the site to minimize delays to local traffic.”

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal has repeatedly been recognized as one of the safest workplaces in the United States. In 1999, the Arsenal became the first Superfund site in the nation to achieve OSHA’s highest award in workplace safety.

For questions about the removal of the traffic light, call the RMA Community Information Line at 303.298.1818.