Silverthorne to demolish Burger King this week

Silverthorne plans to demolish Burger King in the next week, according to town officials, in conjunction with work the town is doing to improve traffic flow along Stephens Way.

Silverthorne closed on the purchase of both the former Burger King building and the former Pizza Hut building this past summer. The town also agreed with the owners of the former Arby’s, ensuring the property’s owners will redevelop in a way that works with the town’s transportation improvement plan.

The town plans to add two lanes to Stephens Way to create a four-lane road to ease congestion on the well-traveled road. Town officials said the plan should take 10 years or possibly less if everything falls in line. Officials said recent developments have expedited the process so far.

Burger King was purchased for just over $2.6 million, and Pizza Hut was purchased for a little more than $2.1 million. The town has agreed to lease the former Pizza Hut property to Cafe Food Rescue, a local nonprofit, so that it can use the space in the meantime while the project is still in its planning stage.

The town’s Transportation Master Plan, drafted in 2020, specifically calls for the widening of Stephens Way, which runs from U.S. Highway 6 south of I-70 to Wildernest Road just north of Interstate 70. 

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Colorado Department of Transportation statistics from 2020 show that approximately 51,000 cars pass through State Highway 9, U.S. Highway 6 and the I-70 corridor each day. The Wildernest Road/Rainbow Drive area sees an average 21,000 vehicles a day, according to CDOT. 

The project coincides with a CDOT study focusing on the area as part of the  I-70 Silverthorne/Dillon Interchange project, and CDOT expects to have results in 2024 that will help inform the project.

Other changes expected in the area include building a bridge that would span the Blue River to connect Adams Avenue to the stretch of Stephens Way heading toward Wildernest Road that is just before the interstate. 

The town’s master transportation plan also calls for a roundabout where Stephens Way intersects with Wildernest Road, where there is currently a traffic signal.

While the goal is to have construction of all three projects to occur at the same time, town officials said the bridge and the roundabout will likely follow the four-lane expansion. 

The town estimated, back in November, that the widening of Stephens Way will cost $10 million, the roundabout will cost $2.5 million and the bridge will cost $5 million.

Developing a project to mitigate traffic near Exit 205 has been discussed for decades. Yet, projects slated to happen around 2014 fell through. Years later, in 2021, Silverthorne pushed CDOT to help solutions to the town’s traffic problems.