DRIVER ALERT: Major traffic shift begins overnight Friday at multiple bridge construction project in Pueblo
Scott Harrison
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Since late 2024, we’ve been watching the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) make steady progress on the building of five bridges across Interstate 25, Fountain Creek, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
And now, starting this weekend, drivers will get a closer look at the project.
Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, crews will shift the two northbound lanes of I-25 to the east, near the redesigned interchange of US 50 east.
Workers will install signs and barriers for the change.
Drivers will use a temporary path that is partly paved with both asphalt and concrete.
The shift allows crews access to the middle of the freeway, where they are currently building the two new US 50 bridges over I-25, and will replace the existing asphalt pavement with concrete.
Also, the I-25 exit to 29th Street in that area is shifting to the east, and westbound US 50 East will be closed between I-25 and the Bonforte Boulevard/Hudson Avenue intersection as part of the lane shift.
It’s the first major change in traffic configuration since the old bridge connecting I-25 to US 50 east was demolished last fall.
Meanwhile, crews are working on three more bridges: Two across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and a third across Fountain Creek.
CDOT expects to make a similar lane shift on southbound I-25 next month, and hopes to have some traffic on the railroad and creek bridges by mid-July.
Other crews are building a new sound wall to reduce traffic noise for the neighborhood west of I-25.
“But we’re just working on the framework for now,” said Patrick Vigil, a CDOT resident engineer. “We’ll be using those crews to get the (overpasses) finished because that’s the priority. The sound wall panels will be installed after that.”
The sound wall will stretch from just south of 29th Street to just north of 13th Street.
CDOT said that the $114 million overall project should be finished a year from now.