CORTEZ – Several highway projects are planned this year for Montezuma County by the Colorado Department of Transportation.
In April, a 31-mile repaving project will begin on U.S. Highway 491 from the New Mexico border to Towaoc. Guardrail and bridge work also will be done on the stretch.
“The surface will be chewed up, and new pavement laid down,” CDOT engineer Ed Archuleta said last week in a presentation to the Montezuma County Commission.
Safety improvements also will be made at the T-intersection of U.S. 160 – the road to the Four Corners Monument – and Highway 160/491.
Five additional light poles will be installed along with more flashing warning signs.
Rumble strips will be put in to alert eastbound vehicles approaching the intersection.
The changes were prompted by a recent accident with multiple fatalities that occurred after a speeding eastbound van missed the intersection at night and crashed.
Improvements also will be made at the intersection of Mike Wash Road – the entrance to Towaoc – and Highway 160/491 and continue to the reservation boundary near Woody’s gas station.
Preliminary planning is in the works for a passing lane or lanes north of Woody’s because of a large CDOT right of way there, but how it will be arranged still is being studied.
The road project from the New Mexico state line to the northern boundary of the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is expected to cost $20 million.
“The improvements on that stretch of road are well-needed and well-appreciated,” Commissioner Keenan Ertel said.
Also this year, CDOT will improve Colorado Highway 145 between Cortez and Dolores.
The $8.5 million project will resurface the road, smooth the surface, patch in and correct more damaged areas and resurface the road with a 2-inch overlay of new asphalt. Work on the Dolores River bridge also will be done.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com
