Bridging the Gap: Precast Opens New Paths Through Colorado’s Clear Creek Canyon
Building an accessible trail through Colorado's Clear Creek Canyon required navigating steep terrain, an active highway, sensitive wildlife habitats and a narrow corridor along Clear Creek. To connect previously difficult-to-access portions of the canyon without extensive excavation or environmental disturbance, Concrete Express Inc. (CEI) incorporated precast, post-tensioned concrete beams into elevated trail viaducts. Manufactured off-site and installed during planned nighttime highway closures, the beams helped reduce anticipated traffic impacts and construction duration by approximately 75% compared with a cast-in-place alternative. The structures are part of a roughly 3-mile trail segment designed to improve pedestrian and bicycle access while preserving the surrounding landscape.
Fast Facts
- Project Name:
- Clear Creek Trail: Huntsman Gulch Segment
- Location:
- Clear Creek Canyon, approximately 3 miles west of Golden, Colorado, along U.S. Highway 6
- Precast Products Used:
- Structural Beams, Transportation
- Precast Producer:
- Concrete Express Inc. (CEI)
- Completion Date:
- November 2026 (scheduled)
The Challenge
Creating a safe, accessible trail through Clear Creek Canyon presented significant engineering, environmental and logistical challenges.
The corridor is confined by U.S. Highway 6, steep canyon walls and Clear Creek, leaving limited space for conventional trail construction. In some locations, building an at-grade trail would have required extensive excavation, retaining walls or fill that could disturb wetlands, wildlife habitat and areas along the creek.
The project also needed to account for flood conditions, unstable slopes, rockfall hazards and sensitive wildlife, including golden eagles, bighorn sheep and brown trout.
Maintaining highway operations was another major concern. U.S. Highway 6 serves as an important connection between the Denver metropolitan area and nearby mountain communities, as well as an alternate route when Interstate 70 is disrupted. Construction activities needed to minimize traffic interruptions while limiting worker exposure within the narrow space between the highway and creek.
The project team needed a structural solution that could provide a durable, accessible trail alignment without substantially expanding the construction footprint or disrupting the surrounding environment.
Precast Solution
Concrete Express Inc. manufactured precast, post-tensioned concrete beams for elevated trail viaducts along the Gateway to Huntsman segment of the Clear Creek Trail.
The viaducts allow the trail to pass through areas where there is insufficient space for conventional at-grade construction. By supporting the trail on elevated structures with foundations at discrete locations, the design reduces the need for continuous excavation, fill and retaining systems along the creek and highway embankment.
The precast beams form the bottom deck sections of the viaduct superstructures, which also incorporate cast-in-place concrete elements.
CEI fabricated the beams at its NPCA-certified Denver plant while other construction activities progressed in the canyon. The completed beams were transported to the site using CEI’s trucks and installed by crane during coordinated nighttime closures of U.S. Highway 6.
This approach allowed multiple spans to be erected during controlled construction windows, reducing the amount of structural work required within the constrained corridor.
The viaducts are part of a broader trail improvement project that includes accessible pathways, bridges, retaining walls, trailheads and recreational amenities.
- 3 miles Length of the Gateway to Huntsman trail segment
- One-third Portion of the trail segment carried on elevated viaduct structures
- 75% Approximate reduction in construction duration for the viaduct work compared with a cast-in-place alternative
- $1.78 million Reported cost of precast concrete
Why Precast?
Precast concrete provided a way to construct elevated trail structures within an exceptionally constrained corridor while reducing impacts on highway traffic, construction crews and the surrounding environment.
Reduced environmental disturbance: The elevated viaduct system allowed the trail to span sensitive areas rather than requiring extensive excavation, fill or additional retaining structures. Precasting the structural beams further reduced construction activities near Clear Creek, wetlands and wildlife habitat.
Shorter construction schedules: Manufacturing the beams off-site allowed structural fabrication to proceed while site preparation and other construction activities continued. Compared with the anticipated cast-in-place approach, the precast system reduced construction duration for the viaduct work by approximately 75%.
Limited highway disruption: The beams could be delivered and installed during planned nighttime closures of U.S. Highway 6. This reduced anticipated intensive traffic impacts by approximately 75% compared with the cast-in-place alternative.
Improved constructability and safety: Moving structural fabrication to a controlled plant environment reduced the amount of forming, material handling and concrete work required in a narrow construction zone exposed to highway traffic, steep slopes and rockfall hazards.
Durability and flood resilience: The precast members were designed for long-term exposure to Colorado’s freeze-thaw cycles, moisture and temperature extremes. The elevated structural system also helped maintain floodplain capacity by limiting encroachment into areas influenced by Clear Creek.
Together, these advantages allowed the project team to establish a trail alignment through areas where conventional construction would have required substantially greater disturbance.
Results
The Gateway to Huntsman segment has incorporated precast concrete beams into elevated viaduct structures that provide a trail connection through some of Clear Creek Canyon’s most constrained locations.
The precast approach reduced anticipated intensive traffic impacts and construction duration for the viaduct work by approximately 75% compared with a cast-in-place alternative. Off-site fabrication and planned nighttime installation also reduced the amount of construction activity required alongside U.S. Highway 6 and Clear Creek.
The elevated structures helped limit excavation and disturbance near the highway embankment, wetlands and creek corridor. Their design also supported the project’s flood-resilience objectives by minimizing additional obstructions within the floodplain.
With completion scheduled for November 2026, the approximately 3-mile segment is intended to provide a dedicated route for pedestrians and bicyclists through areas where safe recreational access has historically been limited.
The project demonstrates how precast concrete can support public access and environmental preservation while addressing demanding construction conditions, traffic constraints and long-term infrastructure needs.
- Written by:
- National Precast Concrete Association
- Source:
- Clear Creek Trail: Huntsman Gulch Segment, Built for Purpose Awards submission
- Published:
- October 26, 2026
- Last Update:
- Oct. 26, 2026
