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Downtown Estes Loop Project

Transportation

Construction inspection and materials testing at the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.

  • $42MFederal Lands Access Investment
  • 21 MOConstruction Through an Active Downtown
  • 3 STREETSConverted to a One-Way Couplet

Rerouting a national park's front door.

Every year, millions of visitors funnel through downtown Estes Park on their way to Rocky Mountain National Park — and for decades, its two-way downtown streets could not keep up. The $42 million Downtown Estes Loop, administered by FHWA’s Central Federal Lands Highway Division in partnership with CDOT and the Town of Estes Park, converted Elkhorn Avenue (US 36), Moraine Avenue, and Riverside Drive into a one-way couplet. The project built a new roundabout at Moraine and West Riverside, replaced the bridge over the Big Thompson River connecting East and West Riverside Drives, and delivered expanded stormwater infrastructure, floodplain mitigation, and new sidewalks and trails through the heart of downtown.

Working for Flatiron, Vivid Engineering Group provided construction inspection plus field and laboratory materials testing of soils, aggregates, concrete, and asphalt across 21 months of construction, from January 2023 to October 2024. Building a federal-aid project through an operating tourist downtown meant compressed winter work windows and some of the toughest environmental restrictions on any Colorado project — with the Big Thompson River flowing directly through the work zone. Vivid’s inspectors and technicians kept quality verification moving on the contractor’s schedule, with samples run through our AASHTO-accredited Colorado laboratories, so that the Loop opened to traffic ahead of the next summer season.

Project Details

  • Client

    Flatiron

  • Location

    Downtown Estes Park, CO – Elkhorn Avenue (US 36), Moraine Avenue & Riverside Drive

  • Project Value

    $42 million

  • Timeline

    Construction January 2023 – October 2024

  • Sector

    Transportation

  • Services

    Construction Inspection & Testing

Project Location

Elkhorn Avenue, Moraine Avenue, and Riverside Drive, Estes Park, CO 80517

Nearest City: Estes Park

County: Larimer

State: Colorado

Highway route

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