Bryce Martin / bmartin@skyhinews.com
An ongoing bridge replacement project spanning the Colorado River near Grand Lake continues to move towards completion, and officials from the Colorado Department of Transportation say the project remains on schedule.
Thursday afternoon, Tom Scheuermann, CDOT’s engineer for the project, confirmed that work remains on schedule and state officials expect to have work completed by Nov. 14. According to Scheuermann, workers are currently focused on demolition of the old bridge and will soon be drilling holes for the replacement bridge’s caissons.
Scheuermann noted the state is taking great efforts to ensure debris from the demolition work does not fall into the Colorado River. According to Scheuermann, workers will construct a false deck underneath the existing bridge and will install netting on the bridge overhangs to keep any demolition debris outside the riparian areas.
Workers completed construction on a temporary bridge structure at the worksite earlier this year, and traffic in the area is being diverted onto the temporary bridge as demolition and construction work continues. Once demolition work on the old bridge is completed, workers will begin in earnest efforts to construct the new permanent bridge structure.
Once the new permanent bridge structure is completed, workers will remove the temporary bridge that is currently servicing traffic in the area.