Roadwork underway to make Arapahoe County safer for Colorado cyclists

Construction crews in Arapahoe County are working to make a popular intersection more bike-friendly. Right now, crews are adding three new roundabouts around sections of Inverness West, Inverness East, and Inverness Boulevard by Dry Creek Road. The Inverness Drive Project is just one step in a very big project.

CBS First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter met with CIP Transporation Engineer Trent Marshall to discuss the project in depth. Marshall tells CBS Colorado it will take a four-lane road and turn it into a two-lane road. It will dedicate those lanes to be street bike lanes. This program will provide bicycle facilities from Denver to Douglas County. The construction started the week of May 27 but the design for this project is two years in the making. 

"During our design, we did a lot of analysis with pedestrians, detours and how we get pedestrians and bicyclists around this construction zone," Marshall said. "We have very detailed control plans for pedestrians and bicyclists where they need to go."

Transportation improvements are planned to make it safer and more convenient to travel by bicycle or walk along the north-south corridor of Inverness Drive West and Clinton Street. The project will run along Inverness Drive West from the Hilton Denver Inverness Resort driveway, just north of County Line Road, to the intersection of Clinton Street and Fulton Street on the north end, just north of Dry Creek Road. Once completed, this project will add an on-street buffered bike lane, segments of multi-use path, and three new roundabouts along Inverness Drive West. This is an area where more than 50,000 drivers use daily. 

More of the planned improvements include:

• A six-foot-wide bike lane with a two-foot-wide buffer on each side of Inverness Drive West for most of the length of the project. 
• A ten-foot-wide multi-use path separated from the roadway by a landscape buffer to complete segments where the on-street bike lane will not be constructed (such as at the ends of the corridor and through roundabout intersections.
• The existing meandering sidewalk will remain except for segments where it will be replaced by the new multi-use path.
• On the north end of the project, a ten-foot-wide multi-use path will also be added along the east side of Clinton Street between Dry Creek Road and Fulton Street.
• New lighting along both sides of Inverness Drive West between Dry Creek Road and the Hilton Denver Inverness Resort driveway.
• New roundabouts near the northern UC Health driveway, Inverness Lane West, and the Fleming's/Catholic Health Initiatives driveways.
• Roundabouts provide a safer alternative to traditional left turns during peak traffic and reduce vehicle speeds.
• Although the posted speed limit is 25 mph, the average speed recorded is 37 mph. Roundabouts are proven to slow drivers down and increase safety for all.
• Repaving Inverness Drive West between Inverness Main Street and the Hilton Denver Inverness Resort driveway.
• Improved drainage and landscaping.
• Enhanced signage.

The Inverness Drive Project will cost about $5.5 million. The Dry Creek improvement will cost an extra $4.5 million. For both projects, 80% is paid for through federal grants and the other 20% is split between the county and two metropolitan cities. Crews will be out every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Inverness Project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.