In a regional effort to widen a high-traffic, high-volume roadway near Highlands Ranch, the Douglas County commissioners approved a $226,418 amended contract to complete the final designs.

The $25 million project will widen the segment of County Line Road from University Boulevard to Broadway.

This project will include a new traffic signal at the Clarkson Street / County Line Road intersection, a mill and overlay for the portion of the road within the City of Littleton located between Phillips Avenue and Broadway, as well as adding sidewalks. 

On May 23, Benjamin Pierce, the county’s capital improvements project supervisor, said the amended contract is needed to allow Felsburg Holt & Ullevig Inc. to complete the final design stages and keep the project on track.

Currently, Pierce said, the county is on track to get construction bids by late 2023, pending the completion of right-of-way acquisitions, coordination of necessary utility relocations, and obtaining necessary clearances from the Colorado Department of Transportation.

In voting in favor of the amendment, Commissioners Lora Thomas and George Teal agreed that it wouldn’t be possible without the regional partnerships that have made it possible to fund the entire project.

Teal said, “It’s the child that no one knew they wanted that suddenly everyone wants.”

In the fall of 2019, the Denver Regional Council of Government selected this project to receive $10 million in federal funds through the Transportation Improvement Program. Besides the federal funds, other entities have also kicked in contributions, including $7 million from the City of Centennial and $1 million from the City of Littleton.

Commissioner Abe Laydon said it is a high-traffic roadway that serves more than Highlands Ranch as commuters from Douglas and Arapahoe counties use County Line Road regularly.

Douglas County has committed to spending $7 million on the project.

Pierce said if all goes as planned, construction will start by early 2024 and the widening project will be completed in late 2025.