Peoria Street Bridge Replacement
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Background
The city of Aurora plans to replace the Peoria Street bridge over Sand Creek to enhance safety and improve mobility along this vital transportation corridor. The bridge replacement also presents an opportunity to add vehicle travel lanes, sidewalks, and a shared-use path, supporting more efficient and accessible travel for all modes.
The existing 60-year-old bridge reduces Peoria Street from six lanes to four, creating a bottleneck along an otherwise continuous six-lane corridor between I-70 to the north and Colfax Avenue to the south. The inconsistent lane configuration contributes to delays and operational inefficiencies at the Peoria Street and Fitzsimons Parkway intersection. Additionally, the sidewalks throughout the project area are substandard. This project aims to address these issues by improving travel operations, enhancing connectivity for travelers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing injuries and crashes, and increasing mobility for all populations.
Project Status - April 2026
The project is currently in the design phase. Given physical constraints and technical requirements, the team is preparing the most promising design to move forward with based on an initial screening process. Several conceptual designs were evaluated, considering physical constraints and overall project goals. A proposed project design has been selected for further refinement. More information on the Proposed Project can be found below.
The project will not move forward to construction until design is complete and funding is secured. This project is one of several highlighted in Build Up Aurora, the city’s infrastructure investment initiative. Through the latest round of public feedback related to Build Up Aurora, bridge conditions and replacement emerged as one of the key themes identified by the community.
Community members are invited to review the Proposed Project Design and provide feedback to the team through May 4, 2026. Public comments may be submitted through the Feedback Form below.
Project Location
Peoria Street serves as a critical connector for both the city and the greater Aurora-Denver metropolitan region. The Peoria corridor connects to I-70, functions as a relief route for I-225, and is a designated freight route on the National Highway System. It also links two major urban centers while supporting multimodal transportation options, including access to transit stops and a light rail station within a half mile of the project area. Additionally, the Peoria Street bridge spans the Sand Creek Regional Greenway, a key recreational and ecological corridor.
Project Goals
- Deliver a resilient and long-term solution to reduce current and future traffic congestion and improve air quality.
- Enhance multimodal access and experience along Peoria Street and connections to the Sand Creek Regional Greenway Trail.
- Ensure the Sand Creek basin is not negatively impacted by the new improvements.
- Replace a functionally obsolete bridge to improve user safety.
