Republished from December 2007 Looking at Lakewood
New Year Rings in Construction on West Corridor Kipling Bridge

The first steps for building the bridges needed for the West Corridor light rail line will begin in 2008 at Kipling Street with erosion work, traffic control and staging of equipment and materials.

Early next year, construction of the bridge should be underway, but only the bridge will be built at this time, not the approaches. Bridges also will be built over Wadsworth and Sheridan boulevards and Indiana Street, but that work will come later in the project.

The work is expected to affect Kipling Street at West 13th Avenue. Lane restrictions will occur at times through the coming months. For the latest construction information, visit www.rtd-fastracks.com/wc_1.

The West Corridor is the first line that the Regional Transportation District will build under the FasTracks program approved in 2004 by metro-area voters. The 12-mile line will run from the Auraria campus in Denver through Lakewood to the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility in Golden, largely along a former railroad line on West 13th Avenue.

Next year, Lakewood residents also will start to see sites throughout the city set up for staging and storage of equipment for construction of the light rail. These areas will help minimize construction traffic through neighborhoods and facilitate access to materials and equipment for construction. The proposed sites are:

• Northeast corner of 13th Avenue and Kipling Street.
• North of 13th Avenue to West Colfax Avenue on the west side of Quail Street.
• South of West Sixth Avenue just east of Deframe Court.
• Northeast corner of Sixth and Indiana Street.
• Northwest side of the Interstate 70 and Sixth interchange.

Additionally, transit facilities will be built at the southwest corner of West 11th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard and the northeast corner of 13th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard. But these areas will be used for staging and storage until construction is complete.

Moving gas, cable, water and electric utility lines is required to make way for the light rail line, and that work began last summer and continues in the corridor. Xcel Energy's work in the area of West 12th and 13th avenues between Nelson and Oak streets will continue through the end of the year. In late January, Xcel will shift to the area of 12th and 14th avenues between Upham and Garrison streets.

RTD is refining the design elements for the stations and other parts of the West Corridor, and the Denver Transit Construction Group has been hired to build the line. The group is a joint venture between Herzog Contracting Corp. and Stacy and Witbeck Inc. Herzog has built the majority of light rail and passenger rail projects in the West, while Stacy and Witbeck have built a transportation system as the general contractor.