CDOT anticipates a soft reopen of Colorado Highway 133 as early as next Monday, depending on weather and construction conditions. The reopen is expected to take place once the temporary bridge is installed, although several critical time-sensitive tasks first need to be completed. That checklist includes pouring concrete for the bridge’s back walls by the end of this week, setting temporary barriers as well as bridge rails. To date, CDOT has completed the bridge’s foundations and the bridge is in place on the foundations.
Blue Mesa Reservoir is seeing a recovery after some thirsty years, reports the Montrose Daily Press. As of Monday, the state’s largest body of water was 16 feet from being full to the brim. That means 685,000 acre-feet of water is sitting in the reservoir right now, with spring runoff from a snowy winter not yet finished. The Gunnison Tunnel, which brings vital irrigation water to the Uncompahgre Valley, has taken its full amount of water, the power plant at Crystal Dam is at full capacity and the river downstream from the tunnel has a higher flow.
That’s a far cry from the situation in recent years, which saw the reservoir drop so low that water under the Lake City bridge was hardly more than a trickle cutting through a drying stream bed. Water officials say that levels could return to drier conditions next year, but for now, they’re enjoying the reprieve and hope improvement continues.
Women have been historically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields, otherwise known as STEM. But a science program serving students from Aspen to Parachute is introducing a new program this summer to help address that deficit. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Aspen Public Radio's Halle Zander has this report. This is part of that story.
U.S. support for nuclear power is the highest it's been in a decade. There are a number of proposals for new plants in our region. That could mean an uptick in domestic uranium mining. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Will Walkey reports.
Although uranium occurs in several areas of Colorado, much of the uranium production is from numerous and relatively small mines in the Uravan mineral belt located in Mesa, Montrose and San Miguel Counties, according to the Colorado Geological Survey. This area accounts for almost 80% of the total uranium production in Colorado.
