Public meeting to discuss Big Thompson road closures

LOVELAND — A public meeting to discuss impacts of roadwork in Big Thompson Canyon will be held next week in Loveland.

The Colorado Department of Transportation and contractor Kiewit Infrastructure Co. will host the forum beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, at Ellis Ranch Event Center, 2331 Ellis Ranch Lane, just north of west U.S. Highway 34. The meeting will include a formal presentation about summer construction activities and traffic delays on U.S. 34, traffic closures associated with work beginning in October, and overview of the entire project.

Specifics of the permitting process for access by canyon residents during the fall closure won’t be available at this meeting. According to CDOT, those topics will be addressed in September once more information is available.

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Beginning Monday, July 18, Kiewit crews will start light construction, including worksite mobilization and trucking of materials. Starting in August, motorists will experience short-duration delays and traffic stops for rock blasting and general construction operations between mile points 77 and 80, or from just east of Drake to the Cedar Cove area. CDOT plans intermittent closures of 20 to 30 minutes to minimize delays.

From late October through June 2017, the canyon will be closed to through traffic between Loveland and Estes Park, but open to all drivers east of mile marker 80 and west of mile marker 77. That means drivers wishing to get from Northern Colorado cities to Estes Park or reach properties in the upper canyon will need to detour using Colorado Highway 66 and U.S. 36 through Lyons. The only through access on U.S. 34 during that period will be for canyon residents and emergency services through a permit process — and then only between 6 to 8:30 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. for canyon residents.

U.S. 34 through Big Thompson Canyon was heavily damaged during the September 2013 floods, which wiped out much of the rebuilding work that had been done after the flooding disaster of 1976 that left more than 140 people dead. As a result of these two events, CDOT has been studying the hydraulic flow of the river in the canyon and its impact on the road and bridges.

Updates on the project are available at 970-667-1005 or click here.