Jen from Douglas County writes, “What’s driving you crazy? Does CDOT have an explanation as to why rebar is showing on the Meadows/Founders I-25 bridge in Castle Rock? Is the bridge safe as it is a main road in Castle Rock? There are so many potholes that are so deep that they show the rebar. The road has been bad for years and they don’t fix it.”
Let me start Jen by saying, the Colorado Department of Transportation assures me that the bridge is safe for driving. They said the structure is sound, but as you and I can clearly see, it is the driving surface that's in question.
This story really begins back in the summer of 2015 when CDOT contracted to have a third lane added to the eastbound side of the Meadows Parkway bridge. This is what it looked like on Google street view.
In order for that third lane to be added, the original wide, low concrete median that separated the two sides of traffic needed to be removed. It was during that median removal process that the left lane damage occurred giving the lane its current look.
I answered a similar question to yours, Jen, for a viewer back in 2017. At that time I was told that the process to remove the wide median was much more difficult than the contractor expected since the median wasn’t just plain old concrete. The workers found reinforcing steel in that median and that the steel was strongly bonded to the bridge deck. They reported that the original construction of the bridge in 1999 was very well done, so any modification to the original structure became more complicated than originally anticipated.
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Back then, I was also told doing an extensive resurfacing of the bridge deck was cost prohibitive and that the driving surface would be left in place for a few years until the entire bridge deck could be rehabilitated since CDOT believed at the time there was a “reasonable driving surface” in place. That appears to be the same thinking now as I was told recently by CDOT.
“There are some deck surface spalls and previous patches, CDOT said. "This type of deck condition is common for bridges that have a concrete wearing surface in the Denver Metro area. We will continue to perform routine maintenance on this structure.”
The latest bridge inspection report dates back to November 2021. At that point the National Bridge Inventory condition of this structure was listed as 5-Fair on a scale of 9 to 0 with 9 being excellent and 0 being failed. The bridge inspection report lists the bridge deck — the surface we drive on — as “level 6: SATISFACTORY CONDITION - structural elements show some minor deterioration.” That does not seem to fit with what we can see when we drive over that left lane on the eastbound side of the bridge. The inspection report says the bridge deck has been protected with an epoxy coat that is designed to help restrict water intrusion and add some reinforcing stability to the surface. CDOT told me recently that same thing.
“We overlay these bare deck bridges with a polyester concrete surface during bridge preventative maintenance projects,” CDOT said.
The report also recommended that a feature of the bridge, the approach guardrail ends, needs repair or corrective action saying that the feature does not meet currently acceptable standards or a safety feature is required and none is provided.
The question remains — when will the bridge deck be resurfaced so these flaws will be covered up? That information was not provided to me nor could I find any plans for resurfacing in the CDOT 10-year annual report. So yes, even though the left lane doesn’t look great, apparently it is safe to drive on and will stay this way for the foreseeable future.
Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.
