Colorado lawmakers and officials recently broke ground on the I-270 Corridor Improvements project, an $806 million initiative to upgrade roughly six miles of the interstate.
The project, led by contractor Kiewit Corporation, will stretch between Adams County and north Denver, aiming to improve safety, travel time, freight operations and multimodal connectivity. A key aspect of these improvements will be the replacement of 12 bridges built in the 1960s.
Kiewit will also add one tolled Express Lane in each direction (free for buses, motorcycles and three-person or more carpools), two general-purpose lanes, one continuous auxiliary lane between Vasquez Boulevard and York Street and rebuild the Vasquez Boulevard interchange.
Other improvements include:
- Improved ramps at I-76, York Street and Quebec Street to reduce merging and weaving crashes.
- Wider shoulders and emergency turnarounds.
- A new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over I-270 between East 56th Avenue and Quebec Street.
- Four new RTD bus stops near the Quebec Street interchange.
The project will be conducted in three phases:
- Phase 1: Between October 2026 and early 2030, crews will complete earthwork on the northern edge of westbound I-270 between 60th Avenue and the South Platte River Trail, begin the replacement of eight bridges of the most critical need in Spring 2027 and reconstruct mainline I-270 from the South Platte River to the start of the Vasquez Boulevard ramps.
- Phase 2: Between early 2030 and through 2033, crews will reconstruct remaining mainline I-270, the Vasquez Boulevard/I-270 interchange, and York Street and 56th Avenue bridges.
- Phase 3: Between early 2030 through 2033, crews will reconstruct the Vasquez Boulevard bridge over Sand Creek, improve Sandcreek Drive/I-270 frontage road and build a new bicycle and pedestrian I-270 overpass at South Sandcreek Drive.
Earthwork is expected to begin this fall, with major bridge construction beginning next spring and wrapping up in 2033. Over 100,000 vehicles use this corridor of I-270 every day.
