Denver's Regional Transportation District, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation and SEMA Construction Inc. broke ground for the I-225 rail line in early May.

The 10.5-mile light rail extension will travel through Aurora and a small section of Denver. The line, part of RTD’s FasTracks program, will include eight stations and connect the existing Southeast Light Rail Line at Nine Mile Station with the planned East Rail Line at the Peoria-Smith Station.

Constructing the first segment of the line from Nine Mile to Iliff as part of CDOT’s expansion project allows both RTD and CDOT to efficiently complete the rail line and highway expansion by sharing construction resources.

It will also allow the agencies to minimize inconvenience to the public by expanding the light rail and the highway at the same time. The Yale Bridge, demolished this past weekend, is expected to be closed for approximately six months while it is replaced with a larger bridge to make room for the light rail and widening of the highway. The first segment from Nine Mile to Iliff, which is being built as a rail/highway expansion partnership with CDOT, will open in summer 2014.