Agenda Date: 04/07/2026
Subject:
Title
Resolution 18-2026: Approving the second amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation for reimbursement of costs associated with the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Brent Soderlin, Director of Public Works & Utilities |
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Brent Thompson, Executive Projects Engineer |
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Aaron Heumann, Transportation Engineering Manager |
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Presentations: |
N/A |
PURPOSE:
Approval of a second amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Littleton and the Colorado Department of Transportation for reimbursement of costs associated with the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Safe Community; High-Quality Governance
DISCUSSION:
The Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection is the most congested location in the City of Littleton with vehicles stacking at times for over a mile and delays reaching 15 to 20 minutes of extra travel time. This results in long delays and safety concerns, such as rear-end crashes that are associated with significant congestion. This intersection carries up to 60,000 vehicles per day along S. Santa Fe Drive and 30,000 vehicles per day along W. Mineral Avenue. The purpose of the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Improvements Project is to reduce congestion and improve safety at this intersection.
When the project was envisioned in 2019, the improvements associated with the quadrant road were anticipated to be primarily confined to off roadway modifications. Through design progression, working with developers, and coordination with CDOT and Douglas County, the overall design and scale of improvements were expanded to fit the context of the broader corridor and adjacent land development. Instead of relying on a potentially expensive and impactful future grade-separated interchange, the proposed improvements are believed to serve as the long-term solution to eliminating the bottleneck at the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection. The improvements will enhance the ability to realize a more complete regional transportation solution that benefits adjacent communities and creates longevity for the project.
In 2019, the City of Littleton submitted a grant application for operational improvements at the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection. The city was successful in securing a grant of $9.152M.
As the design of the project progressed, it became clear that additional improvements along both Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue were required to effectively meet the needs of the operational and safety goals of the project. In addition, post-pandemic construction inflation prices escalated dramatically, generally 40% more than when the grant was applied for in 2019. As such, the city submitted a second grant application in 2022. The city was successful in securing a second grant for $3.5M, which was amended to the IGA in 2024.
As with any large and important infrastructure project, city staff continued to coordinate with other on-going projects in the area and discovered an opportunity to add more safety and continuity aspects to the project. As a result, the city pursued and received a third grant to facilitate inclusion with the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Improvement project. This second amendment to the IGA will add an additional $3.39M in grant funding to the project.
The project began construction in November 2025 and is anticipated to be complete in 2027.
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Improvements Project is to reduce congestion and improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Along with improvements to Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue, a new quadrant roadway is being designed in the southwest parcel of the intersection. The quadrant roadway concept will remove left turning movements from the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection, redirecting vehicles onto the quadrant roadway to complete the left turn movements. This diversion allows for additional green time to be provided to the through and right turn movements, both north-south along Santa Fe Drive and east-west along Mineral Avenue. This project will provide a new traffic signal along Santa Fe Drive for access to/from the quadrant roadway and revised traffic signals along Mineral Avenue at Santa Fe Drive and Platte River Parkway, along with new lane configurations, traffic signal retiming, and mobility improvements throughout the project extents and to surrounding areas.
Those who have experienced the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection know that it is one of the most congested intersections in the City of Littleton. This intersection accommodates nearly 60,000 vehicles per day along Santa Fe Drive and 30,000 vehicles per day along Mineral Avenue. If the intersection were to remain in the current configuration, delays will become significantly worse given traffic volumes are projected to grow to 115,000 vehicles per day by the year 2040 due to anticipated future development in the immediate area, as well as to the south in Douglas County and west in Jefferson County. Although the quadrant roadway concept is the first of its kind in the Denver metro area, the quadrant roadway is a proven solution that will accommodate this increase in traffic, minimize delays, and improve safety.
In 2022, the Santa Fe Drive Action Plan: A Planning and Environmental Linkages Study was completed. The recommendations from the Santa Fe Drive Action Plan emphasized the regional importance of the Mineral Avenue and Santa Fe Drive intersection. While a costly and impactful grade-separated interchange was originally envisioned as the long-term solution for this intersection, the improvements brought forth through the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Improvements Project are now clearly the regional solution to operational and safety improvements for the foreseeable future until other bottlenecks and sources of congestion along the Santa Fe Drive corridor can be addressed.
As the design progressed from conceptual into preliminary design, and through coordination with adjacent projects, including the Douglas County South Santa Fe Drive Expansion and the owner/developer of the property needed for the quadrant road, it became evident that the project limits would need to expand beyond the limits of the southwest quadrant property. As a result, additional design and planned construction were required along both Mineral Avenue and Santa Fe Drive.
The added project scope includes elements such as:
• Addition of a double U-turn movement along southbound Santa Fe Drive south of Mineral Avenue.
• Mill and overlay or full depth reconstruction of a substantial segment of Santa Fe Drive.
• Relocation of the CDOT fiberoptic backbone, Xcel Energy lines, and multiple communication company utilities along the west side of Santa Fe Drive.
• Full reconstruction of the two existing signalized intersections in order to accommodate expanded pedestrian and bicycle facilities in and around the Mineral Light Rail Transit Station.
• The addition of raised center medians along Santa Fe Drive.
• Lane continuity along Santa Fe Drive to maintain consistent utilization with adjacent projects.
Prior Actions or Discussions
The Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project has been discussed with City Council many times over the past several years.
The original IGA was approved by City Council as Resolution 38-2020 on May 5, 2020.
The first amendment to this IGA was approved by City Council as Resolution 13-2024 on February 6, 2024.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
In 2019, the City of Littleton was awarded a grant for operational improvements at the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue intersection of $9,152,000 in federal funding.
The city was awarded a second grant for the project in 2022 of $3,500,000 in federal funding, which was included in the first amendment to the IGA.
The third grant, contained within this proposed second amendment to the IGA includes an additional $3,390,000 in federal funding.
The current total project cost estimate is $24,716,000, with funding sources as follows:
Project Funding
Federal Grant $16,042,000
Developer Contributions $ 3,954,000
City of Littleton $ 4,720,000
Total Revenue $24,716,000
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the Amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement.
ALTERNATIVES:
If Council does not approve, this project will not be completed until funds are available. Leveraging grant funds for projects such as this is critical to complete projects the city would unlikely be able to afford on its own. Forgoing this opportunity would put Littleton at a significant disadvantage in attaining community goals related to transportation, economic development, and quality of life. Turning down the funds would also put Littleton at significant disadvantage in competing for future transportation funding that is available through CDOT.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Resolution 18-2026 approving the second amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation for reimbursement of costs associated with the Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project.