Sean Owens

The addition of a third eastbound through lane between Interstate 25 and Peoria Street is expected to decrease commute times and bring the road back to an acceptable level of service, said Sean Owens, road engineer for Douglas County.

Once the project is complete, eastbound Lincoln Avenue will transition from three to two lanes just east of the intersection with Peoria Street near The Wildlife Experience.The third lane already exists between Oswego and Peoria streets and will double as a right turn lane, Owens said.
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The four-month project, which also includes improvements to key intersections, will result in periodic lane closures on Lincoln Avenue between I-25 and Peoria Street, Owens said.

Douglas County is spending roughly $1.6 million on the three projects; Lincoln Avenue is now the subject of a traffic mitigation study launched by the county last year.The study is not complete, but is expected to identify deficiencies in the level of service along the heavily used corridor.

The county is extending the double left-turn lanes at Havana Street and eastbound Lincoln Avenue to prevent vehicles from protruding into the through lanes.The center median will be removed to double the length of storage for the left turn to northbound Havana Street.The third through lane will help expedite traffic flow at that intersection, Owens said.

Construction crews will add a second left turn lane from eastbound Lincoln Avenue onto Peoria Street.

"Peoria might be a little more complicated because it's in the middle of the road.We will have to close off one lane," even during peak times, Owens said, adding there will be an immediate improvement once the project is completed.

The third project, which actually commences first along with the Havana Street intersection improvements, includes the addition of a third westbound through lane over the highway to the intersection at Lincoln Avenue and Park Meadows Drive.The county is planning to restripe the bridge and coordinate all of the traffic signals between Yosemite and Peoria streets to coincide with the changes, Owens said.

Owens urged motorists to be patient while the improvements are under way.He recalled a story about an impatient driver who recently drove onto wet concrete on the new extension of Chambers Road south of Lincoln Avenue.

Sean Owens, road engineer for Douglas County, said the county does not have the power to establish specific truck routes, much like Parker did in 2005.Crowfoot Valley Road was designed to handle heavy truck traffic and there will likely be no need to make any repairs.The tractor trailers also use Stroh Road in Parker and Founders Parkway in Castle Rock to reach their respective destinations.

The trucks from the Red Hawk Ridge construction site have traveled throughout the Castle Rock area to transport dirt to other locations, including the Crystal Valley Parkway bridge that is under construction, Owens said.

"We'll be building something this summer," said Sean Owens, an engineer from Douglas County Public Works.
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Owens said he scheduled overlay work to only take place at night to keep from disrupting mall traffic.

The Yosemite improvement project has an estimated cost of $1.4 million and is expected to last from July to October, Owens said.County engineers plan by mid-June to take bids and decide on a construction company to do the road work.

"I'm going to avoid it altogether," he said.