CDOT closes Santa Fe Drive, C-470 ramps for eight-day bridge repair

Douglas County commuters hit a new pinch point Thursday as CDOT shut down key Santa Fe Drive and C-470 movements for eight days of bridge repair near Pier 7. The closure cuts off the westbound C-470 off-ramp to Santa Fe Drive and the southbound Santa Fe Drive move onto eastbound C-470, adding delays to school drop-offs, business access and the morning and afternoon drives that thread through the south edge of the county.

The closure began at 6 a.m. Thursday, June 11, and is set to run through 6 a.m. Friday, June 19. CDOT said the work has to hold traffic off the bridge while concrete cures and repairs at the pier location are completed safely. Signed detours are in place, and drivers leaving westbound C-470 for Santa Fe are being sent to Wadsworth Boulevard before looping back east on C-470 to reach the Santa Fe exit.

For drivers coming southbound on Santa Fe Drive, the detour is simpler but still disruptive: continue on Santa Fe and use the C-470 on-ramp at Santa Fe instead of the eastbound flyover bridge. CDOT also kept the westbound C-470 to northbound Santa Fe slip ramp closed for the duration of the project, meaning motorists trying to move through the interchange in either direction face multiple restrictions at once. The agency said additional short-term ramp and lane closures could still happen as construction continues.

The repair itself is focused on Pier 7 on the southbound Santa Fe Drive, or US 85, bridge to the eastbound C-470 flyover. CDOT said a recent inspection found structural deterioration at that pier, prompting the interim repair project. Ames Construction, Inc. is the contractor, the job is budgeted at $2.5 million, and crews returned May 4 to begin Phase 2 work after the project started in February 2026. CDOT expects the bridge repair effort to wrap up in fall 2026.

The agency said crews are working Monday through Saturday during daylight hours, with weekend and overnight work possible if needed. Monitoring equipment remains in place, traffic control is still active and overweight load restrictions continue on the flyover ramp. CDOT says this is expected to be the final extended closure in the broader bridge-repair project, a sign that the most disruptive stretch may be ending if the schedule holds.

The Santa Fe and C-470 shutdown lands in a corridor already under pressure. The City of Littleton has a separate project near Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue, just north of the bridge repair zone, where it is redesigning the roadway as a quadrant system meant to reduce congestion and improve safety by removing left turns. Douglas County and CDOT have also spent years working on the larger US 85 Corridor Improvements project from Highlands Ranch Parkway to C-470, which helps explain why even a brief closure here can ripple far beyond a single interchange.