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Wilson Gulch over budget

City expects work completed in spring
Wilson Gulch Road, as seen Saturday at the Farmington Hill interchange at U.S. Highway 550/160.

The city had hoped the main road for a new shopping center near Three Springs would be finished this fall, but the project will need more time and almost another million dollars in funding.

Wilson Gulch Road is now expected to be done in the spring, depending on the weather. When finished, the three-quarter-mile road will connect the Bridge to Nowhere to the existing end of Wilson Gulch Road near Mercy Regional Medical Center.

The city, La Plata County and the Colorado Department of Transportation all helped to contribute $8.2 million for the project, but the city couldn’t find a contractor to complete the project for that price, said City Manager Ron LeBlanc. So the city cut both the landscaping and the sidewalks out of the 2015 budget.

Now the city is planning to set aside an additional $960,000 in the 2016 budget for those parts of the project. The city is budgeting $410,000 for sidewalk construction and $550,000 for landscaping, which will look similar to the streetscaping along Florida Road, with trees and mulch.

The city will cover all of the additional costs because landscaping and sidewalks are required by city code, LeBlanc said.

The project was more expensive than expected, in part because of market forces within the construction industry.

“We had no bid that was within our budget,” LeBlanc said.

In addition, only two contractors applied to build the project, and there are few local operators qualified to run certain large pieces of construction equipment, he said.

“The size of this job was larger than most of our contractors can handle,” he said.

The project was delayed by a rainy spring and summer. A lot of rain can make it difficult for construction workers to compact the road.

Managing a water main that serves both the hospital and Three Springs also slowed the project. Sufficient water had to be stored before the pipe could be shut down and certain parts of construction completed, LeBlanc said.

The federal reporting and oversight required has also caused some pauses in construction. The project received some federal grant money that was filtered through CDOT, and that triggered the extensive reporting requirements. For example, a representative from CDOT will double check that the amount of gravel delivered to the sight corresponds to the amount on the ground before the project can move forward.

This reporting has been a burden on the city, LeBlanc told the planning commission.

Once the road is complete, it will provide a needed secondary route to the hospital and access to lots that could hold 256,000 square feet of retail space. Since construction started, retailers have been interested in the area. But LeBlanc cannot name them until they sign contracts with the city. Those contracts could be signed in 2016.

“I think the written commitments will probably come right after the first of the year,” he said.

The full vision for the area includes a realignment of U.S. Highway 550 that would connect to the Bridge to Nowhere.

The plan for this realignment has been published in the Federal Register, and it is currently in a final comment period that will end Oct. 13, said Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman for CDOT.

“We are very interested in finalizing the work to connect U.S. 550 to U.S. 160 at this interchange to meet the needs of this area well into the future,” she said.

Right now, it is unclear how the realignment will be funded.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

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