State Highway 131 Project Wraps Up for Winter

ROUTT COUNTY — On November 11, 2011 work will pause for winter on the State Highway (SH) 131 safety improvement project that has been underway about 10 miles south of Steamboat Springs. The reconstruction and widening of the highway begins at mile marker (MM) 58 south of Chokecherry Lane and ends at MM 55.

“Since July, crews have been hard at work and have removed roughly 20,000 cubic yards of soil and rock so far,” said CDOT Program Engineer Pete Mertes. “Once the excavation is complete next year, we will be able to move forward and bring this stretch of roadway up to current design and safety standards.”

So far, crews have performed extensive excavation of hill slopes as well as placement of embankment on fill slopes in order to flatten hills and straighten roadway curves for better sight distance. Fencing and culverts have also been installed after original fencing was removed. Early in the project, Qwest Communications (now CenturyLink) relocated fiber optic lines along the roadway.

Upon its completion, major safety improvements will also include a full-depth reclamation of the existing highway surface which will essentially recycle the existing asphalt surface into a gravel base. The roadway will be resurfaced and will have new right-of-way fencing, guardrails, drainage, signs, and erosion control features.

The project is currently on schedule and on budget. It is scheduled for completion in November 2012. Connell Resources is the project contractor with a winning bid of $6.9 million. Since 2002, CDOT has completed three major projects to improve the safety of SH 131 (between MM 58 and MM 65) for a contracted amount of approximately $12.1 million.

For more information about winter driving in Colorado, visit http://www.coloradodot.info/travel/winter-driving. To receive real-time updates about road conditions in your area, visit www.coloradodot.info/ and click on the green cell phone icon in the upper right hand corner of the page.