AASHTO Journal, 22 November 2013
The Colorado Department of Transportation this week announced that all highways that had suffered some sort of damage during major flooding in September will reopen before Thanksgiving, days ahead of the Dec. 1 goal.
Officials on Wednesday said that the final stretch of highway closed due to the flooding, 13 miles of State Highway 7 between Lyons and Allenspark, will reopen on Tuesday. In total, 27 highways were damaged or destroyed and necessitated work by CDOT to get them open for traffic.
“The united effort of the Colorado Department of Transportation and its road repair partners has been remarkable,” said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper in a statement. “After the flooding, we faced the daunting task of restoring 485 miles of damaged or destroyed highways. CDOT, the Colorado State Patrol, the National Guard and local governments have worked round the clock to reconnect Colorado communities.”
Hickenlooper stopped by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 2013 Annual Meeting in Denver (see related AASHTO Journal story here) to thank everyone for their support.
“We’re getting a little too good at dealing with these disasters,” Hickenlooper said. “But we got tremendous support from local governments and all our communities, plus the team from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.”
Hickenlooper also thanked Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, also in attendance, for his help in raising the monetary cap for emergency funds (up to $450 million is now available to Colorado, instead of the previous $100 million maximum), included in October’s continuing resolution.