A section of Colorado Highway 3 – a two-lane road skirting the east side of the Animas River southeast of downtown Durango – will close March 9 as crews from the Colorado Department of Transportation perform a rockfall mitigation project.
The project is expected to wrap up by March 20, according to a news release from CDOT. About six-tenths of a mile of the southern section – from the junction with U.S. Highway 160 near Walmart to the southern intersection of Sawmill Road south of Animas Surgical Hospital – will be closed. The closure will be in effect day and night.
Drivers will still be able to access businesses on Highway 3 and Sawmill Road via Camino del Rio, Larry Valdez Way and East Eighth Avenue. Additionally, access to the Carbon Junction trailhead will remain open.
“Trail users can access the trailhead and its parking area via Dominguez Drive and the Carbon Junction frontage road,” the release said. “The right turn lane – just south of the high bridge – from US 160 onto Highway 3 will be closed.”
The release said specialized geotechnical crews will perform rock scaling and blasting operations on the cliffside bordering the east side of the closed section of road. The goal is to reduce the hazard of rocks falling onto Highway 3 from the cliffside, which is prone to frequent rockslides.
Loose material will be removed from the cliff by technicians on the slopes manually removing unstable rock and by blasting, the release said.
Workers will install new stabilizing anchors along the cliff, the release said, as well as clear rocks from behind the concrete barriers and repair rockfall fencing designed to catch and contain rocks and boulders that fall from the cliff.
Motorists can stay up-to-date on roadway conditions by visiting cotrip.org.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
