{"id":13734,"date":"2026-01-29T17:37:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/next-coffee-with-the-county-to-focus-on-road-and-bridge-department-updates\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:40:13","slug":"next-coffee-with-the-county-to-focus-on-road-and-bridge-department-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/next-coffee-with-the-county-to-focus-on-road-and-bridge-department-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Coffee with the County to focus on Road and Bridge department updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County agreed to spend $5 million on road paving projects for 2020.<\/span>Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

County officials will highlight recent progress within Montezuma County\u2019s Road and Bridge Department during the next Coffee with the County, including staff transitions and expanded training efforts.<\/p>\n

The Feb. 9 meeting will feature the county\u2019s new lead foreman, Heath Higgins, who will join commissioners to discuss changes in recent months and how they may affect community members.<\/p>\n

According to Vicki Shaffer, the county\u2019s public information officer, the department has undergone several adjustments. After the retirement of long time supervisor Rob Englehart, his replacement also departed, and additional staffing and structural changes followed.<\/p>\n

Commissioners plan to discuss those developments and outline how the department aims to move forward, with a primary focus on training existing staff, Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

The meeting will also include time for residents to share what they are hearing in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt recent meetings, the commissioners have started taking a few minutes to discuss any rumors that community members have heard,\u201d Shaffer said. \u201cSometimes, we have heard ones that they will address, but usually they just talk about what community members have heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event will follow the county\u2019s typical Coffee with the County format, with brief commissioner updates followed by open discussion.<\/p>\n

County cites weekly engagement with Road and Bridge staff<\/p>\n

During a Tuesday board meeting, county officials highlighted ongoing efforts within the Road and Bridge Department.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Travis Anderson said the county is increasing its engagement with staff and evaluating training, technology and equipment needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019ve spent a lot of time with Road and Bridge. We\u2019re having weekly meetings with them,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe created a promotional format that was actually measurable\u2026 We\u2019re currently evaluating their training and equipment needs. We\u2019re having constant communication with them, like I said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson said the county plans to purchase additional equipment, including a new tilt trailer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one they have now is insufficient, we\u2019ve got a cost for a tilt trailer. It\u2019s about $9,500,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also will be purchasing some protective equipment for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioners said they are already seeing improvements within the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have definitely seen a change in attitude in the road department,\u201d Commissioner Kent Lindsay said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m real positive that things are turning around out there, and these guys are coming to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jim Candelaria agreed, pointing to increased staff involvement and upcoming road projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got to tell you, it\u2019s exciting to watch these guys now get their input, let them help with the decisions that are being made,\u201d Candelaria said.<\/p>\n

He said the county is planning a chip sealing project covering at least 14 miles this year, with the possibility of expanding to 18 miles depending on funding. Work would focus on the county\u2019s southern areas, from Road G to Road H.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they pick the worst of the worst, and we\u2019re going to actually get traffic counts on them so we actually have verification they are the highest traffic counts we have left to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Candelaria added that progress continues on magnesium chloride distribution and application, which is used as a deicer and for dust control.<\/p>\n

Coffee with the County will be held Monday, Feb. 9, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the board of commissioners meeting room at 109 W. Main St. in Cortez. The event is open to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

officials to highlight \u2018exciting\u2019 progress with the road department <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77086,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13734\/revisions\/77086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13734"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}