By Dan Karpiel

The Surveyor

It is as predictable as the sunrise that, come the warm weather months in Colorado, there will be road construction.

This spring and summer will be no different and a sizable project in northwestern Berthoud is already underway. Crews are currently working on a multiphased project on North Berthoud Parkway (County Road 17) between the Grand Market Avenue roundabout (just north of Highway 287) to County Road 16, which is within Loveland city limits.

The scope of the project consists of relocating overhead and underground utility infrastructure, a process that began after the first of the year and is currently ongoing, to make room for a widened roadway. The widening project will consist of constructing six-foot-wide paved shoulders on both sides of the road and adding a 16-foot-wide center turn lane between the 12-foot-wide north- and south-bound lanes.

In addition to the new, three-lane roadway, crews will also be replacing the bridge over the Home Supply Lake Ditch Canal and adding new stormwater sewer infrastructure that will be used to divert stormwater from the Colony Ridge detention pond south under Highway 287 to Berthoud Reservoir. Work has already begun, as planned, on the southern end of the project area. The project is expected to be completed sometime in December 2020, weather permitting.

According to Project Manager Jake Wilson, a civil engineer for Larimer County, “The project is funded through local capital improvement funds from both Larimer County and the Town of Berthoud as well as federal grants administered by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) that were awarded to the two local entities. Larimer County entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Town of Berthoud to provide planning, design, and construction management for the entire project. The project was competitively bid and Coulson Excavating Company, Inc. was the successful low bidder with a bid of $5,266,897.50. A total of (three) bids were received in the public solicitation.”

From information on the County website, $2,865,855 of the budget from the project came from the federal grant, $1,534,145 was the county match and $600,000 came from the Town of Berthoud.

Through traffic will remain open for the entire duration of the project but the County says delays are expected throughout the project and alternate routes, if possible, are advised for motorists. Periodic lane closures resulting in one-way only travel will be in place sporadically until the project is completed.

Twice during the project temporary, paved detours will be completed; the first, currently underway, on the stretch of roadway from the Grand Market Avenue roundabout to the southern border of the Colony Ridge subdivision and the second, expected for this November, adjacent to the bridge over the home supply ditch before the replacement of the bridge.

Further information on the project including updates and lane closure alerts can be found at www.larimer.org/engineering, then scroll down to the ‘Spotlights’ section, and click on ‘All Spotlights’ for CR 17 related links.

Construction timeline, courtesy of Larimer County Engineering Department

• Install bored storm sewer pipes under US 287 (April 2020 – June 2020)
• Construct paved detour along the west side of CR 17 from the Grand Market Avenue Roundabout to just south of the Colony Ridge subdivision (April 2020)
• Install storm sewer from Grand Market Avenue Roundabout to Colony Ridge subdivision
• detention pond (April 2020 – May 2020)
• Construct roadway improvements from Grand Market Avenue Roundabout to CR 16
• (excluding Home Supply Lake Ditch) (June 2020 – September 2020)
• Construct paved detour at Home Supply Lake Ditch (November 2020)
• Replace existing bridge over Home Supply Lake Ditch (November 2020 – December 2020)