Colorado Highway 145 between Cortez and Dolores will receive $10.2 million in upgrades beginning next year.<\/p>\n
The CDOT project will resurface the 9.4-mile section of roadway from MP 0 (at the junction with U.S. 160) north to the to the top of the bridge at Dolores.<\/p>\n
Crews will begin in Dolores in March or April and are scheduled to complete the $8.5 million project by August, reports CDOT representative Nancy Shanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will greatly improve the surface condition by applying a 1-inch leveling course of asphalt, followed up with a 2-inch overlay of new asphalt,\u201d Shanks said.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the dangerous, curving intersection of Highway 145 and County Road P (Milar\u2019s Corner) is slated for a $1.7 million upgrade. Acceleration and deceleration lanes are planned, as well as turn lanes for safer access on and off County Road P from Highway 145.<\/p>\n
What the exact improvements will be made depends on right-of-way acquisitions, and environmental clearances needed to widen that section of road.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne plus is that the resurfacing will have already been done for Highway 145 when the intersection work begins in 2015,\u201d Shanks said.<\/p>\n
Montezuma County is contributing $83,000 toward the Road P intersection improvements, representing 5 percent of the costs.<\/p>\n
The projects are part of the Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships (RAMP) program dedicating $580 million to expand the statewide transportation system.<\/p>\n
Under the RAMP program, CDOT will fund multiyear projects based on year of expenditure, rather than saving for the full amount of a project before construction begins.<\/p>\n
The deadline for detailed RAMP applications passed on July 2. CDOT received a total of 166 applications requesting more than $1.54 billion, more than two times the funding available. For the transportation partnerships program (public-private and public-public), CDOT received 127 applications, totaling more than $1.36 billion in requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been able to extend the reach of our RAMP funds because local governments contributed a total of $118 million to these projects,\u201d said CDOT executive director Don Hunt.<\/p>\n