The Colorado Department of Transportation officially broke ground on the $700 million Floyd Hill project.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and Congressman Neguse and state and local officials spoke during the ceremony, which was held at an Evergreen parking lot Wednesday.

The fully-funded project will improve Interstate 70 travel into the mountains west of Evergreen to the Veterans Memorial Tunnel in eastern Idaho Springs by expanding the highway, rebuilding bridges, enhancing multimodal travel and improving wildlife habitat and access to Clear Creek and the Clear Creek Greenway. 

Project features include:

• A third travel lane will be constructed on westbound
  I-70 from the top of Floyd Hill to the Mountain
  Express Lane
• Westbound and eastbound I-70 curve flattening and
  safety improvements will achieve a 55 MPH design speed
• Over three miles of Greenway Trail improvements
  including reconstructing the trail
• A new frontage road between Central City Parkway
  and US 6 interchanges
• Wildlife safety mitigation improvements, including
  wildlife crossings and fencing
• Eastbound I-70 climbing lane for heavy commercial
  or slow-moving vehicles from the bottom of Floyd
  Hill to the Homestead exit at the top of Floyd Hill

Work begins this fall on a wildlife underpass near Genesee and two roundabouts along US 40 at County Road 65 and Homestead Road. Major construction on the rest of the project is expected to begin the summer of 2023.

During Wednesday's groundbreaking, Gov. Polis called I-70 the lifeline of the state and touted the benefits this project will bring to Colorado.

"These improvements will reduce traffic, save everybody time, make our roads safer and more resilient to a changing climate, and make it support our tourism economy and jobs," Polis said.

Construction will last until 2026 and potentially could continue into 2027. Funding for the project was made possible by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

~Denver7.com