CDOT holding ceremony to celebrate first phase of Highway 36 project

BROOMFIELD — The Colorado Department of Transportation will celebrate completion of the first phase of its U.S. Highway 36 express-lanes project with a ceremony on Monday in Broomfield.

The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at 1stBank Center, 11450 Broomfield Lane. Gov. John Hickenlooper, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez and local mayors have been invited to help mark the end of construction on U.S. 36 between Federal Boulevard and 88th Street in the Louisville/Superior area.

Phase 2, which will bring the project into Boulder, will be complete by January, according to CDOT.

Begun in summer 2012, the project includes an express lane in each direction in addition to the two free general-purpose lanes. The express lanes can accommodate high-occupancy vehicles, bus rapid transit and tolled vehicles. In addition, the project replaced several bridges, built a commuter bikeway, added BRT improvements and installed intelligent transportation systems for tolling, incident management, and transit and traveler information,

The new 11-mile stretch of express lanes between Louisville and Federal Boulevard opened in May, and drivers can use the lanes at no cost until mid-July while CDOT tests its tolling systems.

After the testing period ends, tolled riders will need an ExpressToll account and pass, or can choose to pay via license-plate recognition, which carries a surcharge. Carpoolers and motorcyclists will be able to use the lanes for free, but only if they have a new switchable high-occupancy vehicle transponder and ExpressToll account. The current standard for a high-occupancy vehicle is two occupants, but three occupants will be required to waive the toll by 2017.