The Monaco Street bridge over Cherry Creek has been cut in half.

One side of the bridge is under heavy construction. Workers in helmets and protective gear walk by, and the sound of welding sneaks in between car horns. The other side is filled with traffic and the occasional pedestrian jumping as a car zooms by the tiny sidewalk.

The $12.7 million replacement project began in October to address steel fatigue, water degradation and overall aging. The Monaco Street bridge was built 60 years ago with steel girders that aren’t so easy to maintain or repair now.

“ [Steel fatigue] is a small stress that’s repeated over and over and over again can cause cracking. When that crack propagates, it can happen very suddenly,” said Patrick Bergman, senior engineer with DOTI’s bridge group. The issue,

See Full Page