Have you driven through the Central City Parkway recently? Have you found yourself asking, “What’s with the construction?” Here’s the gist.

It’s been a long year since the summer of 2022 when Central City approved the Young Ranch Resource Quarry’s construction project, operating on a 470-acre property in Clear Creek and Gilpin counties. The construction is a small part of a much larger $700 million project intending to reduce conflicts with slow-moving freight and other vehicles in the uphill section of Floyd Hill.

Though there have been concerns over the quarry’s effect on water quality, dust, noise, traffic, bighorn sheep habitat, and impacts on views, the project hopes to improve current conditions within these concerns.

Improvements include traffic flow and access at interchanges and intersections, design speeds and stopping sight distance on horizontal curves, improving the Clear Creek Greenway trail, and implementing environmental mitigation to enhance wildlife connectivity, air and water quality, stream conditions, and recreation.

The Central City Parkway section is designed to blend the contours of the quarry into the existing natural landforms and includes a revegetation plan matching the existing flora. According to records, wildlife crossings and deed-restricted corridors for the bighorn sheep and other fauna are being considered during construction.

Plans for making work truck traffic safer include an off-ramp/underpass combination so trucks don’t have to cross Central City Parkway to enter or exit the property. Trucks will primarily use I-70 and U.S. 6, if needed, between 2:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. An estimated 300-400 trucks a day have been at work, hoping to complete this section of the project by October. The project is also part of long-term benefits for the community, including tax revenue to support maintenance along Central City Parkway.

The quarry team also has a long-term proposal to shorten the parkway and make it less steep by rerouting it through the Young Ranch property. Kraemer North America is the contractor for the project.

Shifting two-lane closures are expected from May 2023 through October 2023 while the Young Ranch Resource Quarry - Overpass and on-ramp construction moves forward. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2028.

Other parts of the project include adding a third (tolled) westbound travel lane in the two-lane bottleneck section of I-70, adding a two-mile section of the frontage road between Evergreen and Idaho Springs, adding an eastbound auxiliary lane, and much, much more.

To learn more about the project visit https://www.constructionequipment guide.com/kraemer-north-americastarts massive-colorado-project/61556, https://www.codot.gov/news/2023/june/ construction-begins-on-i70-floyd-hill, https://www.codot.gov/projects/i70 floydhill.