A 3-mile artery running through much of Durango remains under construction at the start of Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the tourist season.
The Colorado Department of Transportation planned to have work on the U.S. Highway 550/160 corridor (Camino del Rio and north Main Avenue) wrapped up before this weekend, but the highway department expanded the project and found an unexpected problem with a bridge that upset the timeline, said Lisa Schwantes, spokeswoman for the agency.
“These unanticipated and unexpected additions to the project have not allowed us to complete the entirety of the project by Memorial Day weekend,” she said. “But we see light at the end of the tunnel.”
The resurfacing project should be complete during the first or second week of June, she said.
CDOT is shaving off and grounding down the top layer of the concrete to even out the road and expose a new surface. After being scraped, the road will be restriped, Schwantes said.
“It really is improving the surface, although it looks a little rough,” she said. “Nothing is going on top of what they have ground down.”
She added: “Once the final striping is in, that striping will be much more vibrant and will allow you to see what changes have been made to the lanes.”
Shortly before work began, the city of Durango reached a deal with CDOT to have the highway department replace curbs and ramps at several intersections to bring them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was a cost-saving arrangement for the city, and it made sense for CDOT to do the work while it was resurfacing the road along those curbs.
And soon after beginning work, CDOT found deficiencies with the surface of Junction Creek Bridge, near Durango High School. The surface needed to be repaired to make it uniform with existing structural standards.
Replacing curbs and repairing the bridge set the project behind schedule, Schwantes said.
Amber Blake, assistant city manager, said the highway department made a big push to have construction finished before the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic weekend, but the city doesn’t anticipate any problems as a result of it not being done on time.
Drivers typically think of resurfacing as lying down new surfaces, but CDOT has no plans to do so for this project, Blake said.
“I don’t know if everyone understood that it was really scratching off that top part to improve the traction,” she said. “... If this is what will give us a longer-lasting roadway for the state highway, then that’s great. I’ve never experienced a project like this before though.”
shane@durangoherald.com
