Officials mark substantial completion of U.S. 36 express lanes
BOULDER — Representatives of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s first public-private partnership project gathered at the Davidson Mesa scenic overlook on Monday to celebrate the substantial completion of the nearly $500 million express-lanes project along U.S. Highway 36 between Boulder and Denver.
Officials from CDOT, the High Performance Transportation Enterprise, Plenary Roads Denver, the Regional Transportation District, Boulder County and the cities of Boulder, Louisville and Superior joined state Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, D-Arvada, to mark the official opening and noted the local, state and federal collaboration that went into the four-year construction and delivery of the project.
The first phase of the project opened July 22, 2015, and the second and final phase started tolling on March 30.
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HPTE director David Spector noted that U.S. 36 has seen 20 percent to 29 percent faster travel times during peak morning and evening commutes, and Kathy Gilliland, CDOT transportation commissioner and HPTE board chair, hailed the project’s litany of firsts: the first bus-on-shoulder program in the state, the first “diverging diamond” interchange in the Denver metro area, the first Active Traffic Management System, which will go live this summer, and the first commuter-specific bikeway along a Colorado highway.”
HPTE operates as a government-owned, independent business within CDOT, searching for ways to finance transportation projects. Plenary Roads Denver is a Denver-based consortium of companies including Ames Construction, Granite Construction, HDR and Transfield Services, and led by Plenary Group, a Los Angeles-based investor, developer and operator of public infrastructure projects in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Another celebration is planned for Saturday, when project partners and local and state officials gather to mark the official opening of the U.S. 36 bikeway into Boulder. The first phase of the bikeway, which ended in Louisville/Superior, opened to commuters in June 2015.
The project includes a tolled express lane in each direction on U.S. 36, in addition to the two free general-purpose lanes. The express lanes accommodate high-occupancy vehicles, tolled vehicles and bus rapid transit in the form of RTD’s Flatiron Flyer routes, which started running in January. The project replaced several bridges, built a commuter bikeway and installed Intelligent Transportation Systems for tolling, transit information, traveler information and incident management.
The $317 million for Phase 1, from Federal Boulevard to 88th Street in Louisville/Superior, came from $124 million in RTD funding, $54 million from a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan, $47 million from federal funds provided by the Denver Regional Council of Governments, $42 million in Colorado Bridge Enterprise funding, $41 million from CDOT federal and state grant funds, $4 million from a TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant, $3 million from the city of Westminster and $2 million from the city and county of Broomfield.
The $191.5 million Phase 2, from 88th Street to Table Mesa Drive in Boulder, was paid for with $26.5 million from RTD, $15 million from CDOT, $15 million from federal funds provided by DRCOG, $5 million from Superior, $4 million from Louisville, $1.5 million from Boulder County, $1 million from a FASTER (Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery) grant and $123 million from Plenary Roads Denver’s estimated debt and private equity.
