As a two-lane, high-speed highway with steady semi-truck traffic, a cruise down on U.S. Highway 491 for even the experienced highway commuter can be hair-raising.

It is notorious among county residents who traverse it regularly, in part because of its former incarnation as Route 666 and because of the seemingly high volume of collisions. That route number also earned it the nickname of “Devil’s Highway” because some believe 666 has a satanic connotation.

A recent incident occurred March 26, when Colorado State Patrol responded to a crash with injuries, after a vehicle attempted to pass a turning vehicle by using the shoulder of the road. A third, trailing driver then crashed into the rear of the turning vehicle at full speed.

Although vehicle collisions receive a lot of attention, incidents with wildlife actually make up the majority of reported accidents, according to Colorado Department of Transportation data.

“The number of injury and fatal crashes is not characteristically high when compared to similar highways statewide,” said CDOT Region 5 spokeswoman Nancy Shanks. “The majority (on the northern stretch) were collisions with animals, about 63 percent – that is quite high.”

According to CDOT’s recently compiled, unofficial crash data from 2014, there were only three accidents on the southern portion of the highway, with no injuries or fatalities reported. On the northwestern portion leaving Cortez heading to the Dolores County line, however, there were 76 reported crashes. Nine of those caused injuries, and a head-on collision caused a fatality. Of the 76 reported crashes, 44 were with wild animals, and four were with domestic animals.

CDOT has reported that deer fences and animal underpasses have mitigated collisions on other thoroughfares, said CDOT Region 5 traffic and safety engineer Mike McVaughn.

He said that a large part of his job is spent studying patterns and accidents along Western Slope highways, and there really isn’t one that, by the numbers, is more perilous than others – including U.S. Highway 491.

“I think a lot of what we’re running into is if you’ve been driving for a long time and get on a straight stretch of road, people start falling asleep, or are distracted, tired. ... Several years ago, we put rumble strips down there, and that helped a bunch,” McVaughn said.

In terms of something more tangible for Highway 491 commuters, Shanks said that several intersection improvement projects are among the top 16 for funding this year. Listed projects include where Highway 491 intersects with County Roads BB, P, S, and Lebanon Road. Two intersection-improvement projects on the Tier 2 list for funding include Highway 491 and Empire Road as well as U.S. Highway 491/160 and Canyon Drive.

Money has not been secured yet because CDOT’s budget process for the new fiscal year hasn’t begun, McVaughn said.

“With the top 16, what we’ve been running into is completing one or two a year depending on our funding level, and how complex the project is, if it takes $1.2 million to fix that may be our entire budget for one year,” he said. “At this point, we just finished our traffic study on March 5, haven’t had a chance to start the budget. The ink is still drying on the paper.”