The Park Avenue West viaduct, normally my favorite way to slide into downtown, is a mess this week.
Maintenance crews have shut down lanes of the road as they complete urgently needed work on the bridge, resulting in long back-ups for drivers entering from Interstate 25 and points north.
The work could continue through Sunday, Jan. 14, or later, according to Denver Public Works.
"Expect lane closures and delays through this week and into the weekend," said Heather Burke, a city spokeswoman. The city could have more information about the timeline later this week, she said.
"We regularly inspect all of the city’s bridges. We recently inspected this bridge and saw we were in need of preventative maintenance. We needed to do it now so it didn’t become a safety issue down the road," she said.
Crews are working beneath the bridge, she said, though further details of the problem weren't immediately available.
In the meantime, you may want to consider taking the 20th Street exit if your destination is lower downtown or Speer Boulevard if you have to go a bit further.
You could also avoid I-25 altogether by taking Interstate 70 east, grabbing the Washington Street exit and taking Brighton Boulevard to Broadway. Although, Brighton's a mess, so maybe you should take Ringsby for part of the way.
This has been Traffic Talk with me, your host, some guy.
