CDOT erosion mitigation work will impact traffic on US 24 in Ute Pass this week
Scott Harrison
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Nearly two months after a rockfall mitigation project in Ute Pass, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has started a similar project to control erosion in the winding mountain corridor.
Work began on Monday and will affect eastbound traffic on six miles of US 24 between Chipita Park and Manitou Springs through Thursday, with hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Drivers should expect occasional closures of the right lane and shoulder; the work will likely slow traffic down at times.
Eric Meyers, of CDOT maintenance operations, said that rainy spring and summer weather has washed away soil along segments of the highway and that doing repairs now will prevent the infrastructure from being undermined.
“We replenish the dirt that’s been eroded,” he explained. “We pack it in there as good as we can. And then, determine whether we need a culvert or not, or if we need to use rock check dams. Every circumstance, like I said before, is different. When we’re done, we try to do the best that we can to channel the water to a proper location where it can go down a dedicated culvert or, slide area. And by slide, I mean an engineered slope that is designed to carry water that won’t erode.”
A CDOT project in mid-June to remove loose rocks from cliffs along the pass caused long traffic backups on the highway, primarily affecting westbound traffic.
However, Myers said that because this project affects only one eastbound lane, traffic congestion won’t be as heavy as it was during the rockfall mitigation when backups westbound were several miles long.
Rain delayed the completion of the rockfall project, and may do the same this week with more storms in the forecast.