Adams County leaders seeks federal funding to give I-270 in Colorado overdue upgrades

Stretching across seven miles of the Adams County region, Interstate 270 has become a throughfare to roughly 100,000 users a day, but it also facing critical needs for improvement each year.

 "This is our big-ticket item to get this done right and get it done in a way that serves community," said Emma Pinter, Chair of the Board of Adams County Commissioners.

It's deteriorating. We have documentation that 12 of the bridges are in a poor or deteriorating condition. Some of them actually have holes missing from some of the bridge components."

These needs continue to pose safety threats for pedestrians, people who have a car that's disabled on the shoulder, and anyone else who is using the roadway.

"The pavement is stressed, deteriorated, and it needs to be replaced," said Tamara Rollison, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Transportation. "Last fall, we did a preventative bridge maintenance project, in which we replaced the pavement on the bridge decks. That will go a long way in preventing potholes and emergency repairs until we can permanently replace these bridge structures."

Built in the 60s, I-270 remains the only highway in the state that has never received a full upgrade. However, in the last month, Adams County leaders have been pushing harder to receive the federal dollars needed to give the highway an overdue face lift.

"We have several raise grants in as well as a bridge improvement grant. We have done a couple round of lobbying in DC talking to the department of transportation, the federal highway administration, every single member of congress that represents this area and our senators," said Pinter.

Pinter says it could take a couple $100 million over the next few years in order to complete critical projects.
"We need the feds to come through," she said. "It's a full court press to try to get everyone to be aware that these improvements need to happen immediately."

The grant applications address more than just 12 deteriorating bridges across I-270. The funding is also geared towards widening the interstate's shoulder to make it safer for cars and emergency vehicles.

"I was just speaking to one of our local fire departments, South Adams, and they're really concerned about their ability to get their trucks on and off 270 as well as pull over to the shoulder safely," said Pinter.

Funding will also address other mobility changes such as extending bike and pedestrian trails and sidewalks in an effort to bridge both sides of the corridor.

"This is the public's roadway, so we are working together to figure out what the right solution would be for this very important corridor," said Rollison.

While the county works to get funding, Rollison says CDOT is simultaneously hoping to complete an environmental impact statement on the I-270 corridor by fall 2025 and begin replacing the roadway's bridges as early as 2026.

"Depending on the level of funding from the feds, we're optimistic that the shoulders will become safe. we're optimistic that we're going to get the pedestrian underpasses, as well as hopefully bus rapid transit on the corridor to be able to provide some of that transportation connectivity," said Pinter.