Pre-Construction
One of the largest bottle necks on the street of Arvada, CO is at the intersection of Wadsworth and Grandview. Just south of the intersection, BNSF's Golden Sub (running out to the Coors Brewing plant in Golden) crosses Wadsworth at grade. Anytime a train comes along (four times per day), traffic on Wadsworth is backed up in both directions. It can take up to a half hour for traffic patterns to return to normal. Therefore, the city and the state have finally secured the funds (with federal aid) to separate the grade! The project will take nearly two years and requires the acquision by the state of several businesses in the area for demolition. In order to have as small an impact to traffic as possible, a shoofly will be built for Wadsworth, keeping all six lanes open for traffic during the project. This first map shows the area as it looked from above prior to beginning of the project. The five boxes between Wadsworth and Teller represent businesses that the state has aquired for the project. The box at the bottom just above Grandview was the last to close. It was a Lucky Mart gas station. When heading south on Wadsworth from Ralston, the road is level until directly south of the grade crossing. As the road curves to the right, it also descends down a hill (roughly 30 feet) before reaching 55th Avenue. The idea of the project is to dig a trench starting just south of Ralston Road, allowing Wadsworth to pass underneath the tracks and then level out with the terrain as it approaches 55th Avenue. I have broken the project into phases which I believe to be logical, although I'm not involved with the project, so they may prove to be inaccurate as time progresses.
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