What's Changing on the Roads Around Saddle Rock This Fall?

Construction crews are working on the Gartrell Road bridge over E-470 this fall. Over on Gun Club Road, the 1.5 miles between Quincy Avenue and the Aurora Parkway and Powers Place intersection have a design team and no construction budget. Both roads carry daily traffic for the homes around Saddle Rock Golf Course on East Arapahoe Road. One project is past the money question and the other isn't.

That split explains most of what is and isn't happening on the roads out here. The project with funding is under construction. The project without funding stays on paper. The next chance to change that comes on the November 3 ballot.

Gartrell moved because it was paid for

The Gartrell/E-470 interchange is a joint effort of the City of Aurora, the E-470 Public Highway Authority and the South Aurora Regional Improvement Authority. The city's April 2026 project update said design was complete, construction funding had been secured, and work would start in early May. By late September, E-470's own projects page described construction as underway to expand the bridge.

When it's finished, the bridge will have more travel lanes, signalized turns, adjusted ramps, and bicycle and pedestrian paths on both sides. The city has also listed a 24-hour lane shift on Gartrell between Aurora Parkway and East Dry Creek Road for its traffic-flow project, expected to last through July 2027. So the cones on Gartrell will likely be there for a while yet.

The project went from design to construction within one spring because the money and the agencies were already lined up. Gun Club doesn't have that yet.

Gun Club has a design and a funding gap

Arapahoe County and Aurora are working together on the Gun Club stretch from Quincy to Aurora Parkway and Powers Place. Preliminary design in 2021 included public outreach and produced three conceptual alternatives. Those were coordinated with the planned developments along the west side of Gun Club between Belleview Avenue and the E-470 on-ramp.

The current phase will produce a final design for a four-lane interim road and concept plans for an eventual six-lane road. The scope also covers intersection work, multi-use paths, utility relocation and stormwater. One option the county is weighing is to build the road to full width at the start and add the inside lanes later.

A federal grant plus contributions from Aurora and Arapahoe County pay for the design. The county's project page says that as of June 2026, the city was still working to find construction funding. The two agencies expect to hold a public meeting in spring 2027. That meeting is the next scheduled point where the public sees the design.

A larger plan sits behind this segment. In June 2026, Axios reported that Aurora Councilmembers Amy Wiles and Françoise Bergan were forming a working group on Gun Club Road with Aurora, Arapahoe County, CDOT, RTD and other agencies. The first meeting was tentatively set for July 21, with about three meetings over four to six months. Wiles estimated it would cost about $304 million to widen Gun Club from Quincy north to East Stephen D. Hogan Parkway. We couldn't find any public account of what the group has decided since then.

The one finished piece is at Quincy

At the south end of that stretch, Gun Club already has a completed project. The Quincy and Gun Club intersection is now a partial continuous-flow design, where left-turn lanes cross over about a quarter mile before the signal. The estimated cost was $12,870,937. Arapahoe County put in $4,021,468, Aurora put in $4,021,469 and federal funds covered $4,828,000.

That split shows how these projects usually come together. The county and city each paid almost exactly a third, and a federal grant covered the rest. The Gun Club widening design follows a similar federal-plus-local mix. Construction funding is the piece the city was still working to identify as of June 2026.

Arapahoe Road has a completed project too. The county lists its safety work between South Lewiston Way and South Buckley Road as finished. That work extended the eastbound turn lane at Buckley and added a median that makes Olathe a three-quarter access point. The county notes there may still be occasional daytime closures for punch-list items.

Here is where each project stands as of the most recent public updates:

Heading west, the cones are at Parker and Quincy

For drives toward Parker Road, the bigger day-to-day factor this fall is the city's intersection project at Parker Road, Quincy Avenue and Smoky Hill Road. Construction started in February. When it began, Denver7 reported single-lane closures on southbound Parker Road and weekday work zones around the intersection.

The city's June road roundup listed these work hours:

• Weekday construction from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Lane closures generally from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Work forecast to continue through December 2026

The end date isn't firm. Denver7's February report expected the work to run until about March 2027. The city's later forecast is December. Either way, the closure windows mean a trip toward Parker Road before 8:30 a.m. or after 3:30 p.m. is less likely to run into a lane drop.

Where the November ballot fits

The open question on Gun Club is construction money, and that's where the November 3 election comes in. On June 22, 2026, Aurora City Council passed three Build Up Aurora ballot ordinances. They are:

1. Ballot Issue 3A, a dedicated sales tax for community facilities: a 0.129% sales and use tax and up to $105 million in bonds
2. Ballot Issue 3B, a dedicated sales tax for public safety: a 0.064% sales and use tax and up to $53 million in bonds
3. Ballot Issue 3C, a dedicated sales tax for transportation infrastructure and facilities: a 0.132% sales and use tax and up to $108 million in revenue bonds

The 3C text puts the new tax at 13.2 cents on every $100 purchase, starting January 1, 2027 and ending December 31, 2057. It estimates up to $12.94 million a year in revenue and caps total bond repayment at $209.733 million. If all three measures pass, the combined sales and use tax increase is 0.325%.

The ballot language doesn't name any streets. It lists three categories of transportation spending:

TRAFFIC, INTERSECTION, AND PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS; MAJOR BRIDGE REPLACEMENTS; ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS AND EXPANSION

The connection to Gun Club comes from the city's planning documents. A city transportation project sheet prices Gun Club Road from Quincy to Aurora Parkway at $34 million. That is the same segment the county is designing now. Denver7's coverage after the council vote listed Gun Club Road widening, along with Aurora Reservoir trail and road improvements, among the 65 projects in the program.

The $34 million is a task-force planning estimate, and the ballot doesn't set it aside for Gun Club. The 3C ordinance authorizes spending on the broad purposes above, so council keeps discretion over which projects get funded. The $34 million and Wiles's $304 million figure also measure different things. The first is the project sheet's cost for Gun Club from Quincy to Aurora Parkway, the 1.5-mile stretch the county is designing. The second covers a longer corridor running north to Hogan Parkway. They shouldn't be added together.

The city has a comment page for the Build Up Aurora measures, and the full ordinance texts are posted with the City Clerk's election documents. Voters can read the exact language there before filling out a ballot.

The dates ahead

• November 3, 2026: Ballot Issues 3A, 3B and 3C are on the ballot.
• December 2026: The city's forecast end for the Parker, Quincy and Smoky Hill work.
• January 1, 2027: The date the 3C tax would start if voters approve it.
• Spring 2027: The expected Arapahoe County and Aurora public meeting on the Gun Club widening.
• July 2027: The expected end of the Gartrell lane shift between Aurora Parkway and East Dry Creek Road.

If you're weighing how the Gun Club design or the Gartrell work could affect a particular street or property near Saddle Rock, The Loveridge Group is happy to go through the public project records with you and tell you what they show. Let's Connect.