Bridge project in Adams County is a first for Colorado

In rural Adams County, near Bennett, county engineers are building a bridge quite literally between need and innovation.

"We're excited to share this," said Denise Beltran, Civil Engineer for Adams County.

In June 2023, major flooding took out portions of the bridge at East 144th Avenue near North Converse Road. Roughly 750 cars travel through it each day.

"We have nearby schools and a lot of people commuting every day. This is just their main transportation to get in and out of the city," said Beltran. "That was our main concern is to try to get this open as quickly as possible, which is why we built the temporary bypass over the bridge. But obviously the main concern was also to get this fixed."

The county turned to an Australian-based company called InQuik who have created a system that accelerates the bridge construction process.

"This particular project here in the first project in Colorado," said Steven Noble.

Noble is the area manager for CMC, which is the authorized provider of InQuik bridges in the United States. He said the process starts in a factory, where each piece of the bridge is prefabricated. Then, each piece is brought to the construction site and the are they are put together by a team of contractors.

"I like to think of it as like basically a Lego set, you're putting it together and it's a lot easier," said Beltran.

In a typical bridge construction project, it could take up to 2,000 hour's worth of manpower over the course of several months to compete. Meanwhile, a bridge like one created through InQuik could take 100 hours' worth of manpower and can be completed in as soon as a week.

"You don't need skilled labor, minimal equipment is required and of course the fast installation process reduces road closures, reduces issues within the community and builds resilient infrastructure for a long time," said Noble.

The two abutments on each side of the bridge took about 20 minutes to install Monday morning, with the rest of bridge expected to be completed by October.

"We're looking at about $2 million, which a typical bridge would be more like $5 million," said Beltran.

Right now, only three states in the U.S. have a bridge project like this in place -- Colorado being the third state -- but the goal is to have six installed by the end of the year. Between 12 and 15 are expected to be installed next year.

Not only do Adams County leaders say a project like this saves time and money, but engineers argue that it is a safe solution that could improve bridge construction statewide.

"This is our baby," said Beltran. "Because its coming out and it's the first one here."