5 Answers as to Why you are Always Detouring in the City of Fort Collins
The road system in Fort Collins Colorado needs to change. The city did not plan to hold this many people and they are constantly trying to work on it. One of the main reasons why it takes so long to get to one point to another is because there are constant detours on the roads. Many people are just wondering why there are so many and when will they ever end.
1.Waterline Replacement
Fort Collins has an ongoing water replacement program that improves the water lines and the sewers below the streets. On the city of Fort Collins website under the infrastructure improvements tab they address the fact that some of the waterlines are as old as 100 years and it takes multiple phases to replace these really old ones. They use techniques such as bursting the pipes or directional drilling. These techniques reduce cost and street evacuation, but apparently not enough. A lot of these waterlines run under the main roads, for example Mountain Avenue and Shields Street. The current work on Shields is continuously being postponed.
2. I-25/CO 402 Interchange
Colorado has a website portal with all of the main projects that affect the main highways and one major project that is listed is the I-25/CO 402 Interchange. By the end of this year the city says that interchange will undergo a lot of changes. The result will be a new and improved interchange. Due to all the changes, the city has shut down both directions of CO 402 under I-15. The closures extends to the off ramps of Fort Collins. One main closure will be Prospect and the closure will take place in October.
3. Riverside Bridge Replacements
The replacement of a bridge takes a long time. There is not a lot of bridges in the city but there is enough to cause problems and detours. One project that is just about to end but started in the fall of 2018 is the replacement of the riverside bridge. The works starts with removing the current bridge, raising the road, installing new storm sewers, and then finally installing a new bridge and roadway. Under the engineering tab on the city of Fort Collins website it had listed that during the beginning stages of the project they had to completely shut down Riverside for 2 months. The street is now open but still construction is going on.
4. Concrete Repairs
There has been at least 20 concrete repair assignments this year, that does not include the asphalt patching and paving assignments. The city of Fort Collins has a spreadsheet listed with all of the road repairs they intend to do for the year, some of them still don’t even have a time frame. All of these repairs on the road really affect people’s daily transportation routines. With access to the spreadsheet people can plan accordingly.
5. Intersection Improvements
Most of the intersection improvements have a goal to relieve some congestion but a lot of projects cause more with all of the detours going on at once. The intersection of Vine and Lemay is the city’s number 1 Transportation Improvement Project. The current intersection includes the train crossing which causes a lot of congestion due to the train alone. The cities site states that it is only about 75% done with the planning part of the project and say the construction will run until the end of 2021. A lot more than this intersection will also need improvements due to the train and congestion.
The city of Fort Collins is trying its best to keep up with the growing population unfortunately these detours drive a lot of people away. Every city needs a little polish but the city needs to work on being more efficient with the improvements. These are just some answers to the many many detours people experience everyday driving in this city.
