Wilson & Company served as the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) consultant engineer for the C-470 corridor in the south Denver Metro area since 2003, serving both CDOT and Douglas County. Over that period, Wilson & Company provided planning, preliminary designs, stakeholder coordination, completed an Environmental Assessment (EA), and EA Re-evaluation for the corridor.

The team then became CDOT’s Consultant Program Manager for the $205 million design-build project to construct 13 miles of express lanes on the corridor. The corridor as a whole provides an urban loop in the southwest quadrant of the metropolitan area for 26 miles between I-70 and I-25. Before managed lane improvements (including tolled express lanes) could be considered for construction, it was necessary to obtain consensus from a diverse group of municipalities along the corridor. Under the direction of CDOT and Douglas County, Wilson & Company coordinated to provide facilitation leadership. The C-470 Coalition was formed to provide a forum to engage in a collaborative process that identified solutions for the C-470 Corridor. The team provided innovative contracting methods, public involvement, managed lanes conceptual design, and financial analysis supporting the coalition process. Concurrent with the stakeholder coordination, Wilson & Company advanced the preliminary design, final design field investigations, and a Revised EA to advance the project. The managed lanes incorporate technical state-of-the-art tolling systems, utilizing fixed and variable time-of-day pricing with toll rates reset periodically to maintain a consistent and reliable level of service.

In addition to the reconstruction of a major urban highway with interchanges and bridge structures, the project also includes floodplain analysis and management to accommodate the corridor crossing with the South Platte River within the Army Corp of Engineers easement. Wilson & Company developed the RFP documents and supported CDOT in the procurement process, including RFQ development, RFP development, one-on-one meetings with proposers, evaluation of Alternative Technical Concepts (ATCs), and evaluation of design-build proposals.

Wilson & Company provided extensive support to CDOT in oversight of the design-build implementation of the project, including design oversight and contract management, environmental and stormwater compliance, utilities oversight, and dispute/claims avoidance.