A Rockslide, with a boulder of a size of a house, wiped out a section of the highway in SW Colorado

An aerial image of the road obstruction. Photo: CDOT. A Rockslide, with a boulder of a size of a house, wiped out a section of the highway in SW Colorado

A Rockslide, with a boulder of a size of a house, wiped out a section of the highway in SW Colorado

From The Journal, Denver Post and CDOT

A crew Sunday night blasted one of two boulders that shut down Colorado Highway 145 north of Dolores since Friday, and built a temporary road to allow traffic through.

Trucks hauled way the rubble beginning Sunday, and the bypass road opened Monday afternoon.

The explosion of the boulder - photo CDOT. A Rockslide, with a boulder of a size of a house, wiped out a section of the highway in SW Colorado
The explosion of the boulder – photo CDOT. A Rockslide, with a boulder of a size of a house, wiped out a section of the highway in SW Colorado

The rock slide prompted three days of work to try to reopen the highway, a key route between Dolores and Telluride, and an alternate route to the Iron Horse bicycle race from Durango to Silverton.

On Saturday, officials assessed the ridgeline above the highway for additional threats. CDOT had two priorities: to “patch the damaged road” and to ensure the stability of the rock ridge formation.

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