Completion of Major Intersection Improvement Project in Loveland
After a year of closures, delays, and detours, the improvement project at one of Loveland’s busiest intersections has finally reached its conclusion. On Monday, construction crews removed the last cones and barriers at the intersection of Taft Avenue and Eisenhower Boulevard (U.S. 34), allowing for the resumption of normal traffic operations in the area.
Bonar Crump, the city’s construction manager on the project, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome as he helped with some final touches at the site. “All the challenges that you face going through a project like this, when you get to this point, all that gets erased,” he said. “You just get to the final product and it’s a good final product.”
The completed project features several key upgrades aimed at improving both traffic flow and safety at the intersection, which sees approximately 50,000 daily car trips. These include a wider Taft Avenue with two lanes of through traffic in each direction, along with dedicated bike lanes and new double-left-turn lanes onto Eisenhower Boulevard.
Donny Luff from Loveland Barricade was seen moving traffic cones as the road was reopened to drivers north of Eisenhower Boulevard. The road had been closed intermittently for nearly a year due to the ongoing improvement project at the intersection.
Eastbound and westbound drivers now benefit from longer turn lanes onto Taft Avenue. Additionally, the project included wider sidewalks and upgraded curbs and gutters, making the area more accessible for pedestrians.
One of the biggest challenges for Crump and his team was coordinating work with Loveland Utilities, who were simultaneously replacing aging waterlines beneath the intersection. “We had some difficulty at first because we had so much going on over there,” Crump explained, pointing toward Taft Avenue south of the intersection where major work began last summer. “We had the water contractor in the way of the road contractor, who was right in the way of the electrical contractor, who was boring beneath the pavement. So we had to navigate all of that.”
Another challenge involved working on Eisenhower Boulevard without conflicting with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), which is responsible for the state highway. “CDOT has very specific lane closure strategies that we had to abide by,” Crump said. “When you’re working on a CDOT road, it’s not an ‘ask for forgiveness rather than permission’ type of situation. It’s the kind of situation where you get permission first. It’s their road.”
Despite these obstacles, the intersection’s reopening came about a week ahead of schedule, thanks to favorable weather during the busiest phases of construction, according to Illianna Milldrum, Public Works communications and engagement specialist. She also credited the city utility crews for finishing their portion of the work with time to spare.
“They were a big partner in the project,” she said. “They were replacing pipes that had been there since the 1950s, so kudos to them too.”
The $8.5 million project was funded through a combination of sources, including a $3.3 million federal highway grant, capital expansion fees paid by developers, the city’s excess TABOR revenues, and general fund dollars accumulated over the past 10 years. The replacement of underground water lines was funded separately through Loveland Utilities’ enterprise fund.
With construction now complete, Crump mentioned that crews will continue with minor wrap-up tasks over the next few weeks, such as final landscaping, but those won’t affect traffic. For all intents and purposes, he said, the job is done.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and this, to me, was a really good project,” he said. “I talked to the project manager from Coulson Excavating Company earlier today and — I don’t know why — but he actually used the word ‘fun’ to describe it. Everybody really appreciated this project and everybody’s been great to work with.”
