Superior staff recommend longer Rock Creek Parkway closure, with Aug. 12 completion target
The proposed schedule would close key sections through Aug. 10 and preserve limited neighborhood and emergency access, but the council has not formally adopted it.
Superior town staff recommended a longer, consolidated closure of Rock Creek Parkway and the 88th Street roundabout to improve the chance of reopening the corridor by the town’s Aug. 12 school-start deadline. Council members voiced support July 13, but the meeting record does not show a formal vote adopting the plan.
Under the recommended Option 2, northbound Rock Creek Parkway between South Indiana Street and South 88th Street is scheduled for work through Aug. 4. The 88th Street roundabout and South 88th Street would close July 15-Aug. 10, while concrete work on the new Rock Creek Parkway–Coal Creek Drive roundabout is scheduled for July 15-Aug. 4. Top-lift paving and striping from South Indiana Street through South 88th Street would run Aug. 5-10, the town’s project update says.
The schedule leaves two days of contingency before the Aug. 12 target; it is not a guaranteed traffic-opening date. Staff also cited the contractor’s earlier Aug. 3 or 4 projection, while Mayor Mark Lacis said he hoped traffic could reopen Aug. 4.
The longer closure would be more disruptive than the shorter option previously discussed. Staff said the south half of the South Indiana Street intersection would remain open for access to the South Pool and neighborhoods south of the project. Council members said residents in the Pickin area were already using a single exit and warned that an August closure could complicate trips to the hospital and other destinations.
Emergency routes would remain ramped, project engineer Christine Katz told the council. Residents could drive through in a true emergency but might encounter fly ash, cement or treated subgrade and should avoid the route otherwise. Katz and council members discussed the emergency-access plan during the public meeting.
Staff said the town prepared an online closure map, a community email and six message boards, including direct outreach about 88th Street access near Saddlebrook and Reliance Circle, an area with 51 homes. If the contractor cannot complete the 88th Street work before Aug. 11, staff said that portion could be postponed until after May 20, 2027.
Option 1 would have used an 11-day full closure for the 88th Street work, then moved top-lift paving and striping to nights or Saturdays after school began. Staff said it would be noisier, more disruptive and leave vehicles on the lower pavement lift longer. The project update attributes the roughly 24-working-day delay mainly to contractor inefficiencies rather than weather and says the contract includes $1,450-per-day liquidated damages.