Denver – Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is making travelers aware that it is planning to close a stretch of northbound Speer Boulevard between Lawrence Street and Market Street for the staging and placement of girders for a new bridge being constructed on Larimer Street over Cherry Creek. The 100-foot-long concrete girders will serve as the new bridge’s primary support system and will be set into place with a crane that will arrive onsite before the work begins.
Weather permitting, crews will close NB Speer Boulevard from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Monday, February 20 (Presidents’ Day), and residents who regularly utilize this stretch are urged to plan ahead and consider an alternate route. People who take northbound Speer will be detoured into downtown via Lawrence Street (see attached map). Message boards will be placed along Speer and at other locations to give travelers advance notice.
DOTI is utilizing voter-approved Elevate Denver bonds to replace the 64-year-old bridge and to re-create Larimer Street between 15th Street and Speer Boulevard in a way that makes it more accessible and enjoyable, adding a two-way protected bikeway, 12-foot-wide sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, more seating options, public art and trees. A single travel lane for cars will also be maintained. The project is anticipated to be completed in fall of this year.