Highway 67 Set to Open Friday

August 22, 2012 - UPDATE - Southeastern Colorado/CDOT Region 2 - FREMONT COUNTY – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is planning to reopen State Highway (SH) 67 to through traffic between Florence and Wetmore on Friday morning, August 24.

It was closed to through traffic on July 31 after rainstorms heavily damaged a bridge crossing a normally dry channel, five miles north of Wetmore.

A two-lane, paved detour has been under construction around the damaged bridge for the last two weeks.  The detour connections to SH 67 are being paved today.  Concrete barrier, striping and signing will be placed tomorrow, allowing the highway to open Friday.

Following the opening of the detour, CDOT begins seeking bids from contractors to build a new bridge.  The timeframe for completing construction is unknown until a contractor is in place.  However, CDOT expects it to take up to six months.  Work also would include improvements to the water channel, which is approximately 34 feet deep.

Local traffic still is able to access areas north and south of the bridge.  Until the detour opens, through traffic will need to use the following highways to access areas north and south of the closure points:

  • Areas north of the bridge – U.S. 50
  • Areas south of bridge – From Pueblo: SH 96; points west of Wetmore: SH 69 & SH 96

The damaged bridge, which is made of wood and built in 1952, sunk about five feet below the road surface.  Approximately 1,300 vehicles use this segment of SH 67 daily.

Updated information regarding traffic impacts on this or other CDOT projects is available at www.cotrip.org or by calling 511.  To receive project updates via e-mail, visit www.coloradodot.info and click on the cell-phone icon in the upper right-hand corner.  The link takes you to a list of items you can subscribe to, including Southeast Colorado.