The September I-70 closure dates are set — mark two weekends
The biggest schedule item for anyone building on Denver's west side got firm dates this week. CDOT's I-70 Bridge Repairs at Kipling & Garrison project page now lists two extended weekend closures of I-70 through the Kipling Street interchange:
- Sept. 18–22, 2026
- Sept. 25–29, 2026
These are not overnight lane drops. During each closure, I-70 traffic is routed off the highway and through the Kipling interchange using the on- and off-ramps as temporary travel lanes, and northbound and southbound Kipling traffic is detoured around the interchange entirely. CDOT is telling drivers to expect major delays.
The work is a $5 million rehabilitation of three bridges — the eastbound and westbound I-70 bridges over Kipling (CO 391) and the westbound bridge over Garrison Street — running August through October with Myers and Sons Construction as contractor. Hydro-demolition is being used on the Kipling structures, which is why the deck work needs the road shut rather than squeezed into a night window.
If you are remodeling in Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Applewood, Golden or the north Lakewood side of things, those two weekends are bad ones for material deliveries, concrete pours, or a crane day. Anything on a truck that has to cross I-70 at Kipling should move to a different week. Smaller closures are already running ahead of the main event, including ramp work at Kipling in late August with detours pushed out to Ward Road.
One week to URCO: the waste diversion rule starts Sept. 1
Denver's construction and demolition waste rules take effect a week from Tuesday. If you missed it, the short version from Denver Community Planning and Development: covered projects have to file a waste diversion plan and post a fully refundable deposit before the permit issues, then divert at least half the covered material by weight and document it to get the deposit back.
The coverage thresholds are worth re-reading, because they cut in an unintuitive place:
- New construction, additions, or demolition over 500 square feet — covered
- Interior remodels over 2,500 square feet — covered
A gut kitchen or a bath does not hit 2,500 square feet of interior remodel. A room addition or pop-top clears 500 square feet without trying, and so does a detached garage teardown. The practical difference between a covered job and an uncovered one is mostly staging: a second container on site, and a hauler who will weigh the load and hand you a ticket. On a narrow lot with no alley, that is the part to solve now rather than on demo day.
If your drawings are finished and your permit is days away, the calendar is a real consideration — a permit issued before Sept. 1 is not subject to the plan or the deposit. That is not a reason to push an unfinished set through plan review.
RTD's rail rebuild moved onto Speer Boulevard
Downtown got another lane-count change on Aug. 17. RTD's Downtown Rail Reconstruction project started work on the Cherry Creek Bridge, which means a single left-lane closure on northbound Speer Boulevard and a double left-lane closure on southbound Speer through late September.
That stacks on top of what was already in place:
- Stout Street reduced to one travel lane in the midblock areas between 14th and 19th streets, through mid-October
- Right-lane closures on northbound Seventh Street just north of Colfax and on westbound Colfax between Kalamath and Seventh, through late September
- Sidewalk closures on westbound Colfax between 7th and 10th streets, through late September
The two active work areas — the downtown loop midblocks and the Colfax alignment — began June 7 and run through the first quarter of 2027, with the D, H and L lines affected and bus service filling in. If your project sits in the Golden Triangle, Lincoln Park, Baker or Capitol Hill, your crew's morning drive and your dumpster swaps both got slower. Build the extra fifteen minutes into the schedule instead of arguing about it on a Tuesday.
What the city is putting out to bid
Denver's current construction bidding opportunities page is a decent read on where public crews get committed. Three are open right now:
- 2026 Emergency Wastewater Repairs (contract 202685511) — a three-year emergency repair contract with a $3 million maximum, due Aug. 27.
- Red Rocks 2026 offseason work, Bid Package 1 (contract 202577784) — supply hub, backstage access gate, and north and south stage tower stair refurbishment, due Sept. 8.
- Red Rocks 2026 offseason work, Bid Package 2 — Jurassic Lot improvements, due Sept. 14.
Nothing there closes a residential street. The wastewater contract is the one homeowners feel indirectly: emergency sewer work is what shows up unannounced in front of a house, and a standing three-year contract means the city expects to keep needing it. If you are planning a basement project and your sewer line is original clay, that is a good reason to camera the line before the finish work goes in, not after.
The permit clock, honestly stated
One number gets misquoted a lot: Denver's own target for a standard development review is 180 calendar days, and that window counts both city time and applicant time. The city rolled out a 90-day expedited path for qualifying affordable housing in June, and deed-restricted accessory dwelling units are on the eligibility list — but a market-rate remodel or addition is not.
The applicant half of that clock is the part you control. Every incomplete submittal and every round of corrections is your time, not the city's. Getting the survey, the structural sheets, and the energy compliance path right the first time is worth more than any expediting trick.
What this means for your project
Four things to actually do this week:
- Put Sept. 18–22 and Sept. 25–29 on the project calendar if your site or your suppliers sit on either side of I-70 at Kipling. Move the deliveries, not the people.
- Decide on the Sept. 1 URCO line. If your addition or demo permit is genuinely ready, filing before Sept. 1 skips the diversion plan and the deposit. If it is not ready, plan for the second container and pick a hauler who weighs and documents.
- Price the site logistics, not just the finishes. Container access, detours, and a tight urban lot move a number more than most homeowners expect. Our Denver remodeling price ranges page shows where those costs land.
- Scope the underground before you finish the basement. Sewer and water lines are cheap to camera and expensive to chase after drywall.
None of this changes what a good project looks like — it changes when you file and how you stage the site. If you are sizing a basement, the basement finishing calculator gets you a working range in a couple of minutes, and the Denver metro permit guide covers what each jurisdiction actually asks for. When you want a real number for your address, call us at (720) 980-3913.
Keep reading from the BH Builders blog
Most of this week is calendar work, not craft. Knowing which weekend the highway is closed and which side of a rule your permit lands on is what keeps a job from stalling.DT · Owner, BH Builders
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