By Sarah Kuta, Daily Camera – Boulder News [1/20/16]
Boulder, CO – U.S. 36 commuters, rejoice.
After 3 ½ years of construction, major work on the U.S. 36 expansion project is finished, state transportation officials announced Wednesday.
Drivers can now travel the new express lanes through the final phase of the turnpike widening project — from 88th Street in Louisville to Table Mesa Drive in Boulder — for free during a brief testing period, officials said.
Express-lane drivers, however, still will have to pay between Federal Boulevard and 88th Street, where tolling began in July, according to Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Megan Castle.
“There are two tolling entries between Boulder and Louisville, those entries are free to use during the test period,” Castle said. “Cars can go in there, try it out, see what it’s like, get used to where the entrances are, the exists are, learn the signage.”
She warned that though major work has wrapped up on U.S. 36, there will still be some periodic construction.
Castle said she didn’t know when testing would end and tolling would begin in the express lanes between Boulder and Louisville, though it’s likely to be sometime this spring.
The end of major work was good news to Mary VonBreck, who started avoiding traveling on U.S. 36 in recent years because of the construction.