About The North Forty
A Strategic Transportation Project

The North Forty transportation improvement project is one of CDOT's 28 statewide Strategic Transportation Projects, or projects that are funded in part through the TRANS bill (Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes).

Why "The North Forty?" The project name was chosen a few years ago based upon two important details: the construction project involves safety and capacity improvements along a portion of I-25 (see map) that passes through an area that, despite much recent development, still maintains rural function and beauty. (The term "north forty" refers to a land-owner's upper forty acres.) In addition to the 14 miles of major widening between State Highway (SH) 7 and SH 66, CDOT identified another 26-mile stretch of highway farther north that is undergoing an Environmental Impact Statement, for a total of 40 miles.

The first phase of the construction involved interchange reconstruction at SH 119, SH 52 and Weld County Road 8 along with six miles of widening and realigning the highway. The highway was widened from four to six lanes between SH 7 and SH 52. Starting in late October or early November, a similar construction project will begin that will extend the widening another four miles from SH 52 to SH 119, including the replacement of the Weld County Road 20 underpass with a new pair of bridges.

FUTURE CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS

The money currently allocated for future improvements will, by no means, complete the work to be done along the 40-mile corridor, but it will keep projects moving in that direction. The capacity and safety improvements CDOT is making on this initial stretch (additional lanes, widened shoulders, widened median, free-span bridges) are designed to lay the groundwork for a variety of future highway improvements and transportation alternatives, whatever they are eventually determined to be upon conclusion of the Environmental Impact Statement process.