Crews are nearing the end of a $22 million project to replace the Interstate 25 bridges over south Academy Boulevard, a project that’s prompted overnight closures at the intersection.

A single and much wider bridge is going in to replace the two aging bridges from 1971 and it is about 80% complete, said Randy Johnson, project engineer for the Colorado Department of Transportation. The new structure is anticipated to last 75 to 100 years, according to the project website.

“It’s stout,” Johnson said.

Crews are installing bridge decking on girders prompting overnight closures of the entire intersection of south Academy and I-25 for safety reasons, he said.

Much of the major bridge work is expected to be completed at the end of April or early May and that will mark the end of major closures, he said. The focus will then shift to finer details, such as striping and polyurethane coating, he said.

Crews have also been resurfacing along a 7.5 mile length of the interstate from Santa Fe Avenue to South Academy in recent years, a $72.5 million project.

The right northbound lane along the stretch was the worst pavement in Colorado before the project started in November 2021, Johnson said. A materials engineer came to that conclusion because the the pavement was sliding, an issue that could not be fixed through maintenance, he said. In some areas, workers had to excavate 12 feet to fully stabilize the road.

The extensive resurfacing also added new 12-foot-wide shoulders that will improve safety for those who need to pull off, such as law enforcement and stranded drivers.

CDOT expects both projects, intended in part to improve access to and from Fort Carson, will be wrapped up by Labor Day, slightly ahead of the expected end date in October, Johnson said.

While improving safety has been a key focus of the project, during construction the corridor has seen an uptick in crashes.

CDOT data shows during construction crews have responded to 544 crashes involving more than 1,000 vehicles and injuring 244 people. A crash killed one person along the corridor. The data lags about three months behind.

Crash data from a comparable time period prior to the start of construction shows 399 crashes that injured 152 people and involving 781 vehicles. The crashes killed five people.

Johnson encouraged drivers to go the speed limit and pay attention.

“When you are having to drive it everyday, it’s a challenge because you really have to pay attention and not everybody does,” Johnson said, a commuter along the corridor himself.

CDOT officials meet with local first responders every two weeks to review safety measures, he said.

Recently implemented courtesy patrols along the corridor will also help stranded drivers in the narrow lanes, he said. For example, a if a car loses a tire a truck will take the vehicle to an emergency pull off.