FASTER-Funded Rockfall Project on SH 82 Continues into January
PITKIN COUNTY – Work on the SH 82 Shale Bluffs rockfall mitigation will be extended to January 16. Contractor Rocksolid Solutions has experienced a number of bad weather days where neither hillside work nor highway lane closures were advisable. (The project began on September 13 and was initially scheduled for completion by the end of November.)
In addition, the Colorado Department of Transportation has added some work to the project that will require additional time to complete. CDOT added 75,000 square feet of wire mesh, which will be placed on the slope under the cable netting.
“This mesh has smaller openings designed to keep the small rocks and debris from sloughing off the slope, as routinely happened before,” CDOT Project Engineer Josh Cullen said. “We’re also going to repair a damaged concrete retaining wall panel on the down-valley lanes.”
The specific location for this work—and resulting travel impacts—is at mile marker 35 to 36, just up-valley from the intersection of Brush Creek Road.
Rocksolid Solutions will be conducting the following work to reduce rockfall potential along this stretch of SH 82: rock scaling (bringing loose rock material down by hand or machine); rock anchoring (drilling and inserting steel bars into hillside, typically 8 to 10 feet long); installation of approximately 71,000 square feet of steel cable netting/mesh; cleaning out of existing accumulated rock debris behind barrier; repairing/patching of existing concrete barrier and roadway, where necessary; and retaining wall repair.
TRAVEL IMPACTS UP-VALLEY: During rockfall work, a daily right-lane closure (Monday-Friday and some Saturdays) is in place along eastbound (up-valley) SH 82, avoiding the peak commute hours of 6AM to 9AM. Full traffic stops, lasting up to 15 minutes, in both up-valley lanes will be necessary on occasion to allow for rock scaling or other work that may dislodge rocks.
DOWN-VALLEY: When this hillside work is complete, crews will set up the single lane closure for down-valley travel to repair the damaged barrier. Crews will be off the road by 3PM each day for the Mon-Fri peak traffic hours for down-valley travel. This will only be a 3 to 4-day operation that will begin in January. There will be no work Thursday through Sunday over holiday weekends.
Crews will make every effort to keep these stops to a minimum. CDOT thanks motorists for going “Slow for the Cone Zone!”
For information on other CDOT projects, the public may call 511 or log onto CDOT’s traveler information web site at www.cotrip.org.
The project was funded with the following: $1.2 million in FASTER funding (Senate Bill 108 - Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery) and $350,000 from CDOT’s Rockfall Program.
