FREMONT COUNTY – Engineers with the Colorado Department of Transportation are inspecting the rocky cliffs that border US Highway 50 just west of Canon City this week. The rock scaling work is performed year-round by a team of geologists to explore whether additional mitigation is necessary to prevent rock slides.
Spokesperson Michelle Peulen explained that the freeze-thaw cycle that causes potholes on city streets can also damage the rocks and boulders of canyon walls.
“You never know what’s going to cause those rocks to come down,” Peulen said. “So, our geo team likes to get a better look at it and know what kind of mitigation we’ll have to do moving forward.”
The work is scheduled to occur between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Speed limits are lowered to 40 miles per hour in the area and Peulen said that intermittent lane closures are possible. Check C-DOT’s cotrip.org web page to find alerts about this and other ongoing projects around the state.
