The E-470 Public Highway Authority and Douglas County announced
that an interchange at Jamaica Street and E-470 – formerly called
the Cottonwood interchange in plans – will be built by spring
2003.
Jamaica Street eventually will connect Lincoln Avenue to County
Line Road. The Jamaica interchange will be built just east of
Interstate 25 at E-470.
Douglas County will pay for the design and construction costs to
build the new Jamaica Street ramps. The county also will pay for
new interchanges at Chambers Road, which are being built years
ahead of schedule.
The county said last year that it would begin designing the
interchange. Douglas County will give construction plans to the
authority, which later will reimburse the county for those
costs.
A 10-year repayment plan is scheduled to begin in 2011, E-470
officials said. Financial arrangements are part of an
intergovernmental agreement between the county and the
authority.
The cost for the interchange and Jamaica Street improvements
will be about $3.6 million, said John McCuskey, the director of
finance for E-470. Of the $3.6 million, the ramps will cost $2
million, the Jamaica Street work will cost $1.5 million and
engineering will cost about $400,000.
The new Jamaica Street will replace the Valley Road frontage
road that parallels I-25 on the east side, said Ken Mauro, E-470
design manager. Workers are building Jamaica Street between Lincoln
Avenue and County Line Road, through the Meridian International
Business Center and east of the Hilton hotel in Meridian.
Jamaica Street is expected to open by the end of this
summer.
Douglas County Commissioner Jim Sullivan initiated the move to
build the Jamaica Street interchange on E-470. He is on the E-470
board of directors.
E-470 is a 34-mile toll road on the eastern side of the Denver
metro area. The E-470 tollway connects to C-470 at I-25. E-470
begins at Interstate 25 at County Line Road near Park Meadows and
heads northeast to 120th Avenue. The final 13-mile portion of the
highway is under construction from 120th Avenue northwest to I-25
at 157th Avenue. Opening of the extension is planned in spring
2003, said E-470 officials.