Starting mid-March, 65th Avenue north of U.S. 34 Bypass will close for almost three months while the city works to improve the flow of traffic and increase safety at the intersection.
Originally slated for construction last year, delays caused by obtaining state approval forced city officials to push construction back to this spring.
City officials want to discuss this upcoming construction and share details with community members and nearby residents at an open house from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, at the Greeley Family FunPlex, 1501 65th Ave.
Construction begins mid-March, however, officials are in the process of finalizing construction details and are still determining the exact start date. When construction officials finalize the start date, city staff will share that information on the www.greeleygov.com/services/pw/projects/65th-and-34 page, variable message boards near the construction, and at the open house.
Instead of extending construction for an additional three months and leaving lanes open to through traffic, officials decided to completely close 65th Avenue just north of the U.S. 34 Bypass for about three months. Local, emergency and business access will remain open during all construction.
Greeley’s growth and expansion to the west greatly increased traffic and congestion at the 65th Avenue and U.S. 34 Bypass intersection. To alleviate those conditions, the improvements will add three new lanes to the northern side of the intersection.
On the north side of the intersection, 65th Avenue has one lane heading north and three lanes going south — a left turn, a through, and a right turn lane. This expansion will add an additional northbound lane and two more southbound lanes — an additional left-turn lane and another through lane.
Additional dedicated lanes will help increase the safety of this frequently used intersection and should increase smooth and efficient traffic movement. Adding more lanes will not completely prevent backups at peak traffic hours, it should help move drivers along at a quicker pace.
This construction work will also close 28th Street to the east of 65th Avenue and create a detention pond to help with drainage and flooding issues.
For more information about this project or the open house, or if community members cannot attend the meeting and want to ask questions, contact City Engineer Tom Hellen at 970-350-9793 or tom.hellen@greeleygov.com.