Many Lakewood residents who travel west on Sixth Avenuemay have noticed a few delays with the stoplight at the top of the Union Boulevard/Simms Street exit, especially during the month of September. According to Allen Albers, principle traffic engineer for Lakewood, he says there were intermittent problems with the stoplight on Union Boulevard/Simms Street exit until Sept. 22.Albers, who currently believes the traffic light has since been fixed, said the traffic light at the Union Boulevard/Simms Street exit was skipping the light cycles or causing the light to turn green for only a short time for the exiting Sixth Avenue traffic. This caused standing car traffic to build up on Sixth Avenue, sometimes creating a line of cars back to the Kipling Street exit, a mile east of the Union Boulevard/Simms Street exit.
"I believe we were able to keep the troubles from having the severe impact it was having earlier," says Albers. "We replaced various parts in an attempt to fix the problem as quickly and inexpensively as possible. The solution ended up involving replacing the vehicle sensors on the ramp and replacing the traffic signal controller."
As soon as the repairs were made on the vehicle sensors and traffic signal controller at the Union Boulevard/Simms Street exit stoplight, construction began on the Union Boulevard bridge to repave and rehab the roadway. CDOT will also prepare that portion of the bridge and highway ramps for future projects.
"Lakewood will be modifying the striping at a later date as part of another grant project," says Albers. "This future project will add the double left-turn lanes on the bridge as well as widen the ramps to receive those double left-turns and construct double left-turn lanes on the eastbound 6th Avenue off-ramp."
CDOT is also repaving portions of Sixth Avenue in Lakewood, particularly between the Union/Simms exit and Indiana Avenue exit.
Albers also stated that CDOT must keep two through lanes in each direction and the left-turn lanes on the bridge open at all times and are working during off-peak traffic times to minimize disruptions." According to the traffic control plans, CDOT is only allowed to work between the hours of 8 p.m. and 3 a.m.," Albers says. "Obviously, some of the lane closures will be outside of those times."
Albers suggests for those traveling west on Sixth Avenue to use the Kipling Street or Indiana Avenue exits if they cannot adjust their travel schedule during peak traffic times in the afternoon and early evening.
The City of Lakewood rebuilt Union Blvd. between 6th Avenue and Alameda Avenue/Parkway a couple of summers ago using a Federal grant and City funds. The traffic signals south of 6th Avenue were also rebuilt at this time. The total cost of this project was a little over $3.5 million, 50 percent Federal funding and 50 percent City funding, according to Albers.