LITTLETON, Colo. — Have you ever heard of a Quadrant Road? To put it simply, a quadrant road — or quad road for short — eliminates left turns at the main intersection. In this case, the City of Littleton just broke ground on the first quad road in the western United States at the very busy intersection of S. Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue.
With no left turns, the theory is that traffic flows better as there is more green-light time for through movements. With as many as 60,000 vehicles per day on Santa Fe and 30,000 on Mineral, drivers can experience delays of about 20 minutes during peak times. If the intersection were to remain in the current configuration, delays would become significantly worse given traffic volumes are projected to grow to 115,000 vehicles per day through the intersection by 2040 due to anticipated future development in the region.
Engineers said during evening rush hour, the commute time regularly takes well over 10 minutes just to go from Church to Mineral Avenues. When the quad road opens, city engineers believe that same trip should take less than five minutes and the length of the traffic backup at Mineral should decrease by more than 90%.
Although the quadrant roadway concept is new to Denver, the method has been used in other states with good results. Originally a grade-separated overpass interchange was envisioned here but city leaders decided the quadrant road idea would be a less expensive and better long-term solution.
The project includes new traffic signals, lane configurations and timing adjustments, along with other mobility and safety upgrades in the surrounding area — elements the city believes will make life easier for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. There will also be hundreds of new residents and many new businesses who will call this area home in the coming years as the adjacent River Park development gets built.
Work on the quadrant roadway has just started, with completion expected in the fall of 2027. The total cost of the project is $21.4 million, with $18.6 million covered by federal grants and contributions from developers, plus a local match from City of Littleton funds of $2.8 million.
I did a very interesting, in-depth interview on my Driving You Crazy podcast about the quad road and how it works with Aaron Heumann, Transportation Engineering Manager for Littleton Public Works. You can listen here..
Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.
