TRINIDAD, Colorado (STPNS) -- The Colorado Department of Transportation's I-25 Trinidad Project is in the middle of tidying up a few odds and ends as the winter season approaches.

CDOT Project Engineer Lowell Lester addressed Trinidad's city council Tuesday about the project's upcoming work and recent accomplishments.

Recently completed work on the project includes the installation of a type seven barrier along the mainline of the southbound overpass. Concrete pavement was recently installed by Castle Rock Construction on the southern end of the I-25 mainline project area, from Van Buren Avenue to Main Street and on the northern end of Commercial Street.



Four additional girders for the I-25 overpass were also recently installed.

The brick paving of the northern end of Commercial Street was said by Lester to be nearing completion, with a brick shortage having caused a slight delay. "They didn't have enough bricks to finish it; that's why it's still shut off" he said.

The brick laying caused a closure of Commercial Street by the I-25 north on-ramp for the majority of November, with the closure estimated by Lester to continue for about another week.

Lawrence Construction, CDOT's primary contractor for the project, plans to install four more girders for the overpass this week between University Street and the adjacent railroad tracks. "We should have all the girders up, except for the girders above the railroad tracks and then the girders by Pizza Hut," Lester said. "Those we'll do later."

Lester also reported that the coming months would see the installation of additional girders and pre-cast deck panels on I-25, along with the installation of the last girder over the railroad tracks in late January. A storm drain is scheduled to be placed at the intersection of University and State streets. "Then we'll have most of our utilities done," Lester said.

Castle Rock Construction's concrete plant on Nevada Avenue is scheduled to temporarily cease operation in mid-December. "They've got the south end to finish up, a section in the middle between Main Street bridge and the Purgatoire River and then they'll shut down for the winter and come back next spring to finish off the ramps," Lester said. "So the plant will be sitting there (through winter) like it is now, but it'll be quieter."

The I-25 Trinidad Project, initiated in 2003, is divided into phases. Phase one concerned an extension of Highway 12 that involved a bridge over the Purgatoire River; it ended in the summer of 2004. Phase two of the I-25 Trinidad Project, currently ongoing, is scheduled for completion in July 2009.

The main focus of phase two is the replacement of I-25 from Van Buren Street up to Goddard Avenue. CDOT also plans to reconstruct the old I-25 viaduct, build bridges over Main Street and Commercial Street and construct on-ramps and off-ramps at both of those streets.

CDOT also plan to assist the city with the installation of a new Amtrak station, and has pledged to donate $50,000 to the project. However, during his July address to the council, Lester identified the construction of a new station as still being in the beginning planning stages.

Phase three of the project is currently planned to begin mid-2009 and finish in 2011.