GUNNISON COUNTY, Colo. — After months of full closures, partial reopenings and a single-lane configuration, the Blue Mesa Middle Bridge will fully reopen to two-way travel on Wednesday.
The announcement comes one month after a 24/7 single-lane configuration was implemented at the bridge, and about seven months after the bridge closed to all traffic due to safety concerns.
The bridge is about 18 miles west of the City of Gunnison.
CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said she appreciates the community's patience and support over the past few months, as the closure forced local drivers who commute through Montrose and Gunnison and the surrounding areas to take a significant detour.
"We know this bridge closure posed a very challenging situation for many people throughout southwest Colorado, and your resilience and understanding were crucial in helping us get to this point and we are pleased to have it open for business before winter shutdown," she said.
The Blue Mesa Middle Bridge closed on April 18 after Federal Highway Administration and state engineers reviewed findings from a safety inspection, which revealed several cracks. In a news conference, CDOT said that it did the first inspection of the bridge April 11 and found a crack in the bridge. Crews removed the paint and did ultrasonic testing, which helped them determine the 3- to 4-inch crack ran through the steel. A second inspection was performed on April 18. That same day, the bridge was closed to all traffic.
A few days later, Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera, acting as governor, verbally declared a disaster emergency to support repairs of the bridge. The disaster declaration allowed for an interagency, statewide response and initiated the process for requesting federal funding. The Colorado Transportation Commission approved an emergency request for $10 million in funding.
Over the following weeks, CDOT was involved in the "slow, time-consuming process of removing paint from the bridge to see the condition of the underlying steel," the department said. That revealed almost 120 locations that needed to be addressed.
As months went by, the bridge was partially reopened. One month ago, a 24/7 single-lane configuration to all traffic opened on the bridge. And on Wednesday, it fully reopened to two-way travel.
Watch Scripps News Denver's report on the single-lane configuration announcement from October in the video below.
About five miles to the west of the Blue Mesa Middle Bridge is the US 50 Lake Fork Bridge, which has remained open to the public with pilot car operations and alternating traffic. The Lake Fork Bridge is made of the same steel as Blue Mesa Middle Bridge and was also inspected this past spring. Its repairs never required a full closure.
However, it will continue to have just one lane of traffic, with a pilot car guiding drivers across. The work on this bridge is expected to finish in December, though an exact date is unknown.
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