DENVER — The oldest bridge on the Colorado state highway system is being demolished.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is in the midst of a project to replace the 113-year-old Alameda Bridge over the South Platte River in Denver.
CDOT said the Alameda Bridge, originally constructed in 1911 and widened in 1966 after a 1965 river flood, is the oldest bridge on the state highway system and also one of the most deficient.
Starting at the end of the week and continuing into next week, CDOT and contractor Ames Construction will be saw cutting the bridge deck and turn the deck into more manageable pieces for demolition. Next week, the bridge will be demolished and removed from the project site.
Drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians will have a new way to safely cross the South Platte River as the old bridge will be replaced with a new structure.
The project is also reconfiguring the I-25 South Santa Fe Drive interchange, eliminating South Platte River Drive from Alameda to Cedar, and divert traffic to the widened South Lipan Street north of West Alameda Avenue.
The South Platte River Trail is to be reconstructed with an increased 12-foot concrete trail, a four-foot finely crushed stone trail, and three-foot vegetated shoulders for an overall trail width of 22 feet.
The project began in January 2023 and is expected to last through December 2024.
CDOT said of the road and bridge projects now underway across Colorado, the $22.8 million Alameda Bridge Project is the third largest in the state, and the largest to have broken ground in the Denver area.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew held a press conference last year to provide an update on the project.
"This project is going to make it safer for all those crossing the river and for the bicyclists and pedestrians connecting to the South Platte greenway trail," DeGette said. "It will provide more options for people trying to get from one side to the other whether by foot, by bike or by car which will help bring the communities on both sides of the river together."
"We love historic bridges, we don't want them to be historic while we're driving on them," Lew said. "We have a lot to do to update to make Alameda Avenue work for people for the next one hundred years."
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