Highway 101 Bridge Project Underway

BENT COUNTY – Work is underway to upgrade two crossings on State Highway 101 – the Purgatoire River Bridge, 2 ½ miles south of Las Animas and at a dry gulch, about six miles south of Las Animas.

A paved detour is in place at the Purgatoire River crossing, with the other detour scheduled to open next week.  Signals will alternate northbound and southbound traffic through each site, with minimal stop times.  Additional traffic stops up to 10 minutes are possible from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The detours remain in place through September, with the entire project scheduled for completion in November 2012.

“We’re rehabilitating and widening the Purgatoire River Bridge, which was built in 1966, and we’re replacing the other bridge, which was built in 1935, with a box culvert,” said Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Resident Engineer Paul Westhoff.  “Both structures are rated in poor condition and don’t meet current highway standards.  Part of this project involves widening the shoulders at both locations so it’ll also provide a sufficient area for vehicles to pull-off the roadway to avoid oncoming traffic so safety will be enhanced through the area.”

Wildcat Construction Co. of Wichita, Kan. is the project’s prime contractor.

FASTER – Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery – is fully funding the $3.1million project.  Financed by vehicle registration fees, FASTER established a Statewide Bridge Enterprise, funding the maintenance and repair of Colorado’s most urgent structurally-deficient and functionally-obsolete bridges.  .

Updated information regarding traffic impacts on this or other CDOT projects is available at www.coloradodot.info/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html or by calling 511.  To receive project updates via e-mail, visit www.coloradodot.info and click on the cell-phone icon in the upper right-hand corner.  The link takes you to a list of items you can subscribe to, including Southeast Colorado.