THE SCHEDULED REOPENING OF EASTBOUND US 36 IN THE SECTION THAT COLLAPSED IN JULY WILL BE PUSHED BACK ONE DAY DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS, the Colorado Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. — WESTMINSTER, Colo. — The scheduled reopening of eastbound US 36 in the section that collapsed in July will be pushed back one day due to weather conditions, the Colorado Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
All lanes of traffic were to be restored to their original lane configurations by Thursday morning. However, due to the precipitation expected overnight Tuesday the highway’s full reopening has been pushed back to Friday morning, CDOT said.
The agency said the decision was made because the project needs to have dry pavement conditions to safely and effectively stripe the roadway, which will result in two single-lane overnight closures — one on Wednesday evening and one on Thursday evening.
By Thursday morning, two eastbound lanes of US 36 will be restored to its original configuration. And on Friday morning, all lanes will be restored, and the highway will be completely open.
The highway cracked and started to buckle on July 12, forcing CDOT to close the eastbound section and shift that traffic onto the westbound lanes. By mid-August, CDOT and Kraemer North America started the rebuilding phase.
The repairs came earlier than expected, CDOT said. Crews worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 12-hour shifts to complete this project.
Additional work will continue along this portion of the road through December. CDOT said the three lanes of eastbound US 36 are safe to be open while crews continue this work.