Next week preliminary construction work will begin along I-70 in Vail near milepoint 175 as part of the I-70 Vail Underpass Project. Over the course of the next two weeks, work will be done to relocate fiber optic lines and put temporary concrete barriers in place to shift I-70 traffic on Monday, April 4.
This traffic shift represents the first major phase of work and entails putting I-70 traffic into a single lane, barrier-separated configuration on one side of the highway to keep traffic moving while work is done on the opposite side of the highway to build the underpass bridge.
On April 4, both directions of I-70 traffic will be pushed to the south side of the highway (into the eastbound lanes) while the underpass bridge is built along the westbound lanes. When this work is done, I-70 traffic will be shifted to the north side of the highway (into the westbound lanes) to build the underpass bridge along eastbound I-70. During this time when I-70 is reduced to one lane of travel in each direction, drivers should expect minor delays. Frontage road traffic will be unaffected during this first phase of work.
Construction of both bridges is expected to be complete by July 1, 2016.
During this first major phase of the project, work hours are anticipated to be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. However, because much of this work is weather-dependent, it could be necessary to do additional nighttime and/or weekend work to stay on schedule. Check out this Underpass Fact Sheet