Two large, brightly colored cranes are hard to ignore while driving the Poudre River bridge over Interstate 25.
Those cranes will be used to move bridge girders into place Monday or Tuesday as part of the project to raise the Interstate 25 bridge above a 100-year flood water level, allowing the Poudre Trail to connect underneath. The widening will accommodate an I-25 toll lane in each direction.
The construction is part of the Colorado Department of Transportation's $750 million North I-25 Express Lanes Project stretching 19 miles from Colorado Highway 56 near Berthoud to Colorado Highway 14 in Fort Collins.
Crews started prepping for the Poudre River bridge in November. In recent months, they have built bridge piers and abutments, built embankments and fortified the banks of the Poudre River with rip-rap.