Westsider Westsider 3.21.13
North Jeffco
POSTAL PATRON
March 29, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourwestminsternews.com
North Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 12
PRSRT - STd ECRWSS US POSTAgE PAid BROOmfiELd CO PERmiT #101 Eddm
Girders and deck panels installed along US 36 By Ashley reimers
areimers@ourcoloradonews.com As part of the US 36 Express Lanes project, bridges along the highway are getting a needed facelift. On March 21, the Colorado Department of Transportation began girder and deck-panel installation on the Wadsworth Parkway bridge. This is just the beginning of spring and summer seasons filled with bridge construction along US 36. The girder and deck-panel installation will cause the closure of US 36 in both directions from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. daily until Tuesday, April 2, weather permitting. CDOT project director John Schwab said the department is trying to avoid full highway closures during the project, but the girder installation requires highway closure for safety reasons. “On Wadsworth, we are setting 39 girders across the highway, some weighing approximately 111,000 pounds and measuring 120 feet long,” Schwab said. “We will have detours using the ramps, but we encourage drivers to use alternate routes if possible as there will likely be delays.” The delay is estimated to be about 10 minutes during the 9 and 10 p.m. hours, but throughout the late night hours and early morning hours, the delay should be minimal. Schwab said it’s important for drivers to obey all construction signs and flaggers,
Left, Installation of girders and deck panels for the Wadsworth Parkway bridge began March 21. The bridge work is part of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s US 36 Express Lanes Project. For the installation, US 36 will be closed in both directions daily from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. until April 2. Photo by Ashley Reimers
Pinwheels to be planted for support
and to “slow down for the cone zone.” Schwab said five bridges are being completely rebuilt and three more are being widened as part of the project. The Wadsworth bridge and the 112th Avenue bridge will be completed by November. The Sheridan Boulevard bridge; BNSF bridge; and the US 36 bridges over Lowell Boulevard, the Westminster Promenade, and East and West Flatiron Crossing will also be under construction this spring and summer. The US 36 Express Lanes Project is a $312 million, multimodule project between Federal Boulevard and 88th Avenue Street in Louisville/Superior. The project will build an express lane in each direction of Highway 36 to accommodate high-occupancy vehicles, bus rapid transit and tolled single-occupancy vehicles. Instead of a physical barrier to separate the managed lanes from the general purpose lanes, the project will create a 4-foot buffer, the first of its kind in the state, according to Schwab. Another element to the project is buson shoulders. This feature will allow buses to travel on the shoulders of the highway during periods of high traffic volume. Schwab said buses will only be able to use the shoulders, which are the same width of the lanes, under certain conditions and will have restrictions. Buses can only use a maximum speed of 35 miles per hour, and if vehicles are driving more than 50 miles per hour on the roadway, the buses will not be able to use the shoulders, he added. “This is an accelerated project happening in a span of two and half years,” Schwab said. “We want to minimize as many traffic issues as possible for drivers, and have this project complete and open to the public by January 2015.”
LookinG for a home
Ralston House hosts annual program to raise awareness, funds By sara Van Cleve
svancleve@ourcoloradonews.com Blue pinwheels will soon be sprouting across Jefferson County. Ralston House is preparing to recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month in April by selling blue pinwheels and encouraging residents and businesses to plant them as gardens. “Pinwheels are a national symbol for child-abuse prevention,” said Don Moseley, executive director of Ralston House. “When we think about child abuse, it’s such a difficult subject. We should talk about prevention and getting better. The pinwheel is a very hopeful symbol.” Ralston House has set a goal of raising $30,000 through this year’s pinwheel program, all of which will go toward providing child victims of abuse with forensic interviews, medical exams and emotional support. Ralston House, 10795 W. 58th Ave., is a non-profit child-advocacy center that provides a safe and comfortable environment where children who have been sexually or physically abused can receive help and tell their story. Pinwheels are $5 each, and businesses and individuals can buy them from Ralston House to create their own gardens, or they can sponsor a pinwheel at one of the large public gardens, which will be at Faith Bible Chapel, 6210 Ward Road in Arvada; Gold
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Ralston House is selling blue pinwheels to residents and businesses so they can create their own pinwheel gardens in support of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. Photo by Sara Van Cleve Crown Sports Foundation, 150 S. Harlan St.; and Jefferson County Open School, 7655 W. 10th Ave. in Lakewood. “For me, it’s a very easy way of doing what we all talk about,” Moseley said. Pinwheels will be planted at Faith Bible Chapel and Gold Crown Sports Foundation on April 9, and at Jeffco Open School on April 10. A business that wants to plant its own garden can contact Ralston House to receive a kit. They then sell the pinwheels at their business and turn the proceeds over to Ralston House. The support demonstrated through the pinwheels means something special to the victims of child abuse, whether they are still children or have grown up, Moseley said. “It’s a nice symbol, and it shows victims that the community gets it,” he said. “It’s a chance to show that the community supports them. Countless victims never tell because the perpetrator tells them not to. It’s a reminder that it’s not their fault.” To purchase a pinwheel or pinwheel kit, or to sponsor a pinwheel at a large garden, contact Ralston House at 720-898-6741 or go online to www.RalstonHouse.net.
Tundra, an adoptable 7-year-old Siberian Husky, checks out the scene with her volunteer handler, Debbie Fleckenstine, at the grand opening of the new Eddie Bauer location in the Colorado Mills shopping mall March 22. Fleckenstine and other Foothills Animal Shelter volunteers attended the opening with adoptable dogs and collected donations. The store offered to match any donation made to the animal shelter during the grand opening. Photo by Glenn Wallace