Quick Denver Trippin'
I had a few hours to kill one day before heading to a friend's house for dinner, so I decided to check out the now-complete TREX Project in Denver. Of course, I had to take my camera along.
Heading North
Still wandering northward, we're just about to exit the Denver Tech Center. There's still a bunch more of T-REX to go, so let's keep moving.
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Coming up on the Belleview Avenue exit. Even though it's not really that marked here, SH 88 only heads west from here. Arapahoe Road carries SH 88 eastbound.
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Aah! This is where the speed limit drops now, I see. This is right after the Belleview Avenue bridge.
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The Belleview merge lanes when headed northbound have options. Too bad CDOT can't hang the sign straight.
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Just before the I-225 interchange. The bridge carries Union Boulevard over the interstate. This bridge was not touched during the TREX project.
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The Belleview onramps and I-225 offramps are the first of many braided ramps we'll encounter on this journey of ours.
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Looking down the offramp to Northbound 225.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you MM 200.
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The southbound 225 merge point to NB 25.
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Overpass, TREX style.
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Rolling right along, we encounter one of many VMS's throughout the TREX project.
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Oh, give me a home,
where the buffalo roam,
and this roadgeek's cameras see it all.
Where you can get to
a fire plug through
a hole that is punched in the wall.
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week.
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Approaching Hampden Avenue.
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The Hampden Avenue light rail station.
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The Hampden Avenue exit in all its glory. It's also where we lose the snazzy cement and go back to asphalt. The TREX project wasn't that consistent in road materials.
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The Hampden Avenue bridge in all its glory. This bridge was originally not going to be replaced as part of the TREX project. Not sure what made the contractors change their minds.
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Next up on our parade of exits is Yale Avenue. This exit mostly leads you to the residential areas surrounding the interstate.
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Crews are still busy installing the little things that make this an "intelligent roadway."
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Traffic thickens for no discernable reason. See? If the "intelligent roadway" was operational, I'd have already known about this! Sheesh!
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Lotsa lanes, lotsa traffic.
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Peeking over the center barrier at the Yale Avenue light rail station.
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As in the wild, the buffalo on the sound walls tend to gather together in one location.
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Approaching Evans Avenue. This is where 25 loses lane 5. It's four lanes from Evans to the end of the TREX project now.
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Contractor error or emergency escape hatch? You make the call.
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Back onto cement.
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Dipping below Evans.
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A little closer to Evans than in the last shot. Rapid-fire trigger finger on the camera here.
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Just north of the Evans bridge, the light rail lines break away from the interstate for about a mile.
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At the exit for SH 2, Colorado Boulevard.
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The Evans onramp merges with the Colorado offramp. Here's where they diverge.
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The Colorado Boulevard bridge. Notice that crews aren't even bothering with paint now.
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Just after the Colorado merge. There's not that much room between exits here.
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The Steele Street bridge was the first bridge replaced in the TREX project.
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The University Boulevard exit is Colorado's newest SPUI.
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Semi-permanent temporary signage.
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Originally, the Washington/Emerson exit was separate from the Downing exit. Since that is not the case anymore, we get a pretty advance warning sign.
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Curving past the University Boulevard light rail station. This station gets the snazzy parking garage because of its proximity to Denver University.
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Rounding the curve seen in the last pic, we come across the University Bl. onramp. No merge sign or anything. You pass the end of the sound wall, then BAM! there's traffic wanting your lane. Looks like a little bit of a design flaw to me, ...
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... especially since the Downing exit is only 1/4 mile up the road, and the merging traffic needs to be out of that lane.
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Entering "The Narrows." This used to be only six lanes wide with ramps running up the sides of the grass slopes up to the frontage road. Not any more.
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Originally, the Downing Street exit exited here while the Emerson/Washington exit exited the freeway ahead. Now, it's all one exit.
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The Downing Street bridge. All work isn't complete through here at the time of this pic, but it's pretty darned close.
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Here's where you start to feel really, really small next to these massively high sound walls.
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The interstate is already in a trench through here, then the TREX project added the sound walls.
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Quite impressive.
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The Emerson bridge. Look beyond the bridge to the left. That's the stairs leading light rail travelers from the station to street level.
- Where to next?
- Page 1
- This trip's Index
- Page 3
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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