Construction in Little Blue Creek Canyon along Hwy. 50 finally wrapped up last month, just a week after the partial reopening of the Blue Mesa middle bridge. While drivers can now cruise through the canyon, travelers will still face two sets of delays beginning next week when work starts on the Lake Fork bridge.
The Little Blue Creek Canyon safety improvement project began in April of 2021. It was meant to realign and widen what is considered a dangerous and narrow section of Hwy. 50 west of Gunnison. The project suffered multiple delays, including the suspension of work after mudslides and flooding along I-70 in 2021 forced managers to temporarily reopen Hwy. 50. Construction finished a year and a half behind schedule with an estimated final budget of $40 million.
“It’s [the canyon] quite nice, as painful as it was,” said Gunnison County Manager Matthew Birnie at a county commissioners meeting on Aug. 6. “Hopefully we get the bridge behind us so we can actually drive to Montrose without a full logistical effort to figure out how and when.”
The project began its final construction season in May with single-lane, alternating traffic on weekdays. Once the middle bridge closed down, drivers traveling between Montrose and Gunnison faced multiple hold ups: the first in Little Blue and the second on the County Road 26 detour.
Crews planned to coordinate Little Blue’s completion with the bridge opening over the Fourth of July weekend. After some fine tuning work on the drainage and guardrails, construction officially ended on July 15.
“We want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all of the patience and teamwork from the local communities that participated,” said Kathleen Wanatowicz, the project’s spokesperson.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) was originally planning for alternating traffic on the Lake Fork bridge during the daytime and closures at night starting on Aug. 12. According to Gunnison County Emergency Manager Scott Morrill, nighttime closures are still undecided. He expected an announcement from CDOT in the coming days.
(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)
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