Highway 133 re-opened Monday morning with the temporary bridge in place just outside Somerset. The reopening came 10 days ahead of the anticipated deadline, says CDOT. A project of this size typically requires four months, but construction crews expedited the timeline. The highway is critical for carrying traffic ranging from daily commuting, to agriculture, to tourism. CDOT notes that the accelerated bridge technology used for this project is based on a design pioneered and used by the U.S. Department of Defense in World War II, and can be designed quickly to carry heavy loads, including truck traffic.
With the temporary bridge in place, CDOT is now focused on more permanent repairs for the highway, which will replace the damaged culvert and repave the highway.
As previously reported, damage originally began with a small sinkhole and lane closure during the last weekend of April. Major flooding from nearby Bear Creek flooded the roadway and caused the road to collapse, leading to a safety closure near Somerset, just north of Paonia.
As of Monday, there is an “over-size, overweight” restriction in place for trucks over 11 feet in width and over 85,000 combined gross vehicle weight. Again, Hwy 133 is re-opened over McClure Pass to reach Marble, Redstone and Carbondale. Remember that the dirt road over Kebler Pass to reach Crested Butte is still closed.
The long-anticipated traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 550 and Chipeta went live in Montrose on May 31. The project was a conjoined effort from CDOT and the City of Montrose, with Montrose County spearheading the process. The traffic light comes after traffic studies previously expected growth rates. Studies indicate traffic could double on Chipeta Road by 2050 and that could increase by 40% on U.S. 550. Montrose City Engineer Scott Murphy spoke with KVNF about how the new signal is faring after a few weeks online.
Following a decision last November by the town of Paonia to not allow Pride Flags to be displayed on its light poles along Grand Avenue, numerous volunteers from The Learning Council stepped up with the Color the Town With Us Campaign. KVNF’s Lisa Young follows up on how the campaign is progressing during Pride Month.
