Free commuter shuttle offered for workers during CO 133 safety closure

Delta & Gunnison Counties — Beginning Wednesday, May 24, CDOT will run a free shuttle service to assist commuters needing transportation from the North Fork Valley to the Roaring Fork Valley. The free shuttle service is available due to the road damage and safety closure on CO 133, north of Paonia.

The shuttle service will run:

• Wednesday, May 24 to Friday, May 26 
• Tuesday, May 30 to Friday, June 2

Schedule times and locations are:

• 5 a.m., 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. for departure from Paonia 
  • Shuttles will depart at Paonia Town Park
• 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for departure from Carbondale 
  • Shuttles depart from the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) Carbondale Park & Ride

The shuttle service will not run on Monday, May 29 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. A flyer with shuttle information is available for sharing, and an updated schedule will be shared in time for the week of June 5.

Contractor R.L. Wadsworth is ramping up prep work for placing a temporary bridge on CO 133 at a location with severe roadway damage. Crews are working on the engineering of the temporary bridge. This process usually requires four months, but crews are expediting due to the emergency need for a temporary bridge as soon as possible. Once engineering is complete and approved, crews will mobilize to assemble and attach the temporary bridge.

The bridge will be assembled with 18 truckloads of parts that are sourced from locations nationwide. Parts are anticipated to arrive the first week of June. CDOT continues to negotiate details and a schedule with contractor partner R.L. Wadsworth with the goal of having work completed. The temporary bridge will allow CO 133 to reopen to motorists. Permanent repairs to the damaged section of CO 133 are anticipated to begin once the temporary bridge is installed.

Stakeholder updates for the project will be going out soon. Residents, business owners and other members of the public can sign up for project updates using the following contact information. Please note the hotline may receive several calls, so all voicemails will receive a response.

• Project information hotline: 970-279-3309
• Project email: [email protected]

Once the temporary bridge is in place and CO 133 is safely reopened for the traveling public, there will be a lowered speed limit of 40 mph. Commercial motor vehicle traffic will be restricted to 85,000 lbs and 11-foot width.

A safety closure started on Tuesday, May 2 at Mile Points 14-19 due to significant road damage. The damage originally began with a small sinkhole and lane closure during the weekend of Saturday, April 29. Major flooding from nearby Bear Creek early the week of May 1 filled a culvert with debris and flooded the roadway, pushing the culvert through the other side of the road and eroded roadway embankment, causing the road to collapse. The damage and safety closure are near Somerset, just north of Paonia. Access to Somerset from the north, via CO 133 McClure Pass, continues to be open. 

Travelers that are not residents in the area are encouraged to use COtrip.org for planning an alternate route around the area. Motorists traveling to the CO 82 (Roaring Fork Valley) or I-70 can detour around the closure via US Highway 50 and I-70. All real-time travel impacts will continue to be posted to COtrip.org