31st & Hwy 24 job has to ban pedestrians
So why was all the early work occurring at the corners of the intersection, with a ban on pedestrians?
 A crew with a truck and backhoe clears space for a broadened right-turn lane near the northeast corner of Highway 24 and 31st Street. The Rudy's restaurant can be seen on the south side of the highway. Westside Pioneer photo
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That's because, as it turns out, the $1.7 million project encompasses more than a turn lane.
According to CDOT project manager Steve Goure, the schedule calls for the project as a whole to be finished by mid-November, with pedestrians allowed back in early October, depending on the weather and how long it takes for new signal poles to be fabricated for the project.
“We've told people, 'It's going to inconvenience you for awhile, but when we're done you'll be thankful,'” Goure said.
During the work, traffic backups can be expected at times on either or both roads. The pedestrians have to be disallowed because of the work going on behind concrete barricades at three of the corners, Goure pointed out.
When the left-turn work starts, much of it will occur at night, CDOT resident engineer Dave Watt has previously said.
Here's what travelers can expect when the project is done (quotes from Goure):
- Eastbound left-turn lane, increased in length from 400 feet to 1,100 feet. However, even that may not be long enough, based on the “worst of what we've seen,” in terms of left-turners backed up at the light.
- New traffic signals, with technology that “should help with traffic movement.” They will have modernized push buttons for people on foot and will look better because the lights will no longer be hanging on the “old span wires.”
- Less standing water after storms because of upgraded storm drains.
- Smaller concrete traffic islands (with handicapped ramps, as before) at the northwest, northeast and southeast corners. The smaller islands will give vehicles “more room to maneuver.”
- Other concrete work, as needed (curbs, gutters and sidewalks).
- An added retaining wall at the southwest corner - the one with the steep slopes - to lessen the chance of “all that material sloughing off after heavy rains” (which happened during the project in July and August).
The last major work at the intersection occurred 11 years ago, when the existing retaining wall was built at the southwest corner, a southbound lane was added on 31st, and traffic islands were built at the northwest, northeast and southeast intersections.
For the current project, people on foot might be wryly (or wearily) amused by a CDOT press release advising that, “while the sidewalk is closed, pedestrians are encouraged to cross U.S. 24 at the 26th Street intersection.” That intersection is about a half-mile away.
The current work does not represent an implementation of CDOT's “Envision 24 West” plan that was federally approved in 2012. “Envision” called for the highway to be widened to three lanes each way, but for the foreseeable future it's staying at two.
Westside Pioneer article