Agenda Date: 10/21/2025
Subject:
Title
Resolution 95-2025: Approving a Construction Contract with SEMA Construction, Inc. for the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project, City Project No. 20-22
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Brent Soderlin, Director of Public Works and Utilities |
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Brent Thompson, City Engineer |
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Aaron Heumann, Transportation Engineering Manager |
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Matthew Matuszewski, CIP Manager |
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Presentations: |
Brent Soderlin, Director of Public Works and Utilities |
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Aaron Heumann, Transportation Engineering Manager |
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this correspondence is to provide City Council with an update on the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements project, as well as approve the construction contract with SEMA Construction Inc.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Safe Community; High-Quality Governance.
DISCUSSION:
With the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Intersection Improvements Project transitioning from design into construction, city staff wanted to update City Council on the progress of this important work. In addition, the City of Littleton's Public Works Department advertised for construction and bids were opened on August 7, 2025. Six bids were received, and staff reviewed the bids for fairness and accuracy and selected SEMA Construction, Inc. as the lowest responsive bidder. As a result, the city has entered into a concurrence to award agreement with CDOT to award SEMA Construction, Inc. the construction contract for the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project. Execution of this contract would authorize the project to proceed into construction. Construction anticipates beginning in November of 2025, with anticipated completion in alignment with the 400 working day contract, Summer of 2027.
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational 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 (to be named Nichols Avenue) 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 would become significantly worse given traffic volumes are projected to grow to 115,000 vehicles per day through the intersection 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, a 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 Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue 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 Intersection 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 southwest quadrant property. As a result, additional design and planned construction were added along both Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue.
The added project scope includes elements such as:
• The addition of a double U-turn movement along southbound Santa Fe Drive south of Mineral Avenue.
• The mill and overlay or full depth reconstruction of a substantial segment of Santa Fe Drive.
• The relocation of the CDOT fiberoptic backbone, Xcel Energy lines, and multiple communication company utilities along the west side of Santa Fe Drive.
• The 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.
On-going coordination was needed with Douglas County’s project, Toll Brothers development, Evergreen Development, Aspen Grove’s redevelopment, as well as with the city’s other ongoing multimodal projects along Mineral Avenue.
In 2019, the City of Littleton submitted a grant application for the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) administered by the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) for the design and construction of operational improvements at the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue intersection. With two subsequent requests for additional TIP funding also successful, the city was able to secure grant funding in the amount of $16.042M being provided through TIP in support of the project improving a state highway (US 85).
In 2021, HDR Engineering was selected to complete the design of the quadrant road and lead collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including two developments to the southwest of the project, the Regional Transportation District (RTD), CDOT, and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District. Design of the project started in June 2021 and completed in June 2025. The design was informed by extensive analysis and stakeholder and community input.
In preparation for the project construction, the city has procured an owner’s representative (HDR Engineering, Inc.) who will ensure the project is successfully delivered and meets federal and state requirements due to the funding source and allows staff to focus on overall project and programmatic efforts.
With design complete, funding secured, and concurrence from CDOT to proceed obtained, the city advertised the Santa Fe & Mineral Intersection Improvements Project for construction bids. Having received concurrence to award the contract to the selected contractor from CDOT, city staff is bringing the contract to City Council for approval. Construction is anticipated to begin in the fall and take approximately two years to complete, after which the surrounding roadway operations should have additional capacity to accommodate traffic volume increases as adjacent developments are completed in the area. In addition, the new intersection configuration is anticipated to decrease delays, reduce the number and severity of crashes, better accommodate through and right turning vehicles, while left turn movements will experience slightly out of direction routes, and provide new multimodal facilities and connections.
Prior Actions or Discussions
The Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue Operational Improvement project has been discussed with city council many times over the past several years.
• The original IGA with CDOT for this project was approved by City Council as Resolution 38-2020 on May 5, 2020.
• The contract with HDR for design of the project was executed on September 9, 2021
• Amendment #1 to the design contract with HDR was executed on December 12, 2022
• The first amendment to the IGA was approved by City Council as Resolution 13-2024 on February 6, 2024.
• Amendment #2 to the HDR design contract was approved by City Council as Resolution 33-2024 on March 5, 2024.
• IGA with Englewood for License Agreement pertaining to the City Ditch was approved by City Council as Resolution 80-2024 on August 6, 2024.
• Amendment #3 to the HDR design contract was approved November 19, 2024, and per the Procurement policy at the time, did not need Council Resolution.
• A Professional Services Agreement with HDR Engineering, Inc. for owner’s representative services for the project was approved by City Council as Resolution 29-2025 on April 15, 2025.
In the near future, city staff will be bringing to City Council the request to approve a second amendment to the IGA, identifying the additional grant funds secured for the project, and another amendment to the HDR design contract to finalize related work moving into construction.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
The proposed construction contract with SEMA Construction, Inc for the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project, City Project No. 20-22 is $15,813,563.20.
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Funding Source |
Amount |
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Grants |
$12,650,850.56 |
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City of Littleton |
$3,162,712.64 |
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Total = |
$15,813,563.20 |
Total project costs including design and construction management services is approximately $21.4M.
Pursuant to the City’s Procurement Policy, all contracts exceeding $500,000 must be approved by City Council.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the construction contract.
ALTERNATIVES:
If the construction contract is not approved, the construction of the 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 safety, transportation, economic development, and quality of life. Not approving this contract, therefore, not moving forward with construction of the project, would also result in forfeiture of state and federal grant funding. Additionally, forfeiture of grant funding would put Littleton at a significant disadvantage competing for and securing future grants.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Resolution 95-2025 approving a Construction Contract with SEMA Construction, Inc. for the Santa Fe Drive & Mineral Avenue Operational Improvements Project, City Project No. 20-22.