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Driving You Crazy: How much longer until the new section of E. Jewell Avenue east of Gun Club Road opens?

We are still using one lane each way on the old section, while the new road just sits there.

Kent from Aurora writes, "What's driving you crazy? Eastbound Jewell east of Gun Club has a new south side completed but not open. How much longer will we be restricted to two lane traffic..."

By: Jayson Luber

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Kent from Aurora writes, "What's Driving you crazy? East bound Jewell east of Gun Club has a new south side completed but not open. How much longer will we be restricted to two lane traffic when the road looks ready to open?

That answer is something that even the City of Aurora isn’t exactly sure about just yet.

The section of E. Jewell Avenue east of E-470 that is being expanded into a six lane arterial is between Gun Club Road and Harvest Road. In the Denver Regional Council of Governments 2050 Metro Vision Regional Transportation Plan, the expansion of Jewell Avenue would continue as six lanes all the way out to Watkins Road.

As for this widening project, it stretches between Coolidge Street and Harvest Road right in front of Lennar’s new Waterstone housing development. Right now, drivers are using what will eventually be the westbound section of Jewell Avenue that is currently split into a one lane each way roadway. The newly created stretch of roadway is three lanes wide and primarily used right now as a parking lot and dumping ground.

“While the vehicles lanes are constructed, there are some outstanding public improvements that are not yet completed, and as a result, the road has not been accepted by the city,” Joe Rubino with the City of Aurora said. “Once these improvements are complete, the city will review and issue acceptance of the roadway, then it will be opened to the public.”

How much longer until the new section of E. Jewell Ave. east of Gun Club opens?

The developer told Aurora they are continuing to work through their design modifications, which will be constructed as soon as they are resolved. The real issue here is knowing when these improvements will be completed because that is still a mystery, even to Aurora. Since construction of the roadway, and these other improvements is the responsibility of the developer, the city said it's not privy to the schedule for the remaining work before they can open the roadway.

I reached out to Lennar several times asking for a timeline when they will turn the control of the road over to Aurora but never heard back. This process of having developers construct roadways around and within new developments is common practice in Aurora. According to the city, public improvement permits were first pulled for this roadway improvement in October 2023. However, the exact start of the roadway construction is not known.

I was told by the City of Aurora that it's working with the developer to open the roadway as soon as possible. Once the developer is done with their work, the new eastbound side of Jewell will open to traffic after the westbound side of Jewell is restriped to flow solely westbound.

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.