El Paso County awards more than $1 million for contractor to fix road
El Paso County has awarded a more than $1 million contract to a company from Pueblo West to replace damaged culverts beneath Black Forest Road.
The El Paso County commissioners announced Tuesday that Pate Construction Company Inc. will repair the road, which was shut down in October when the culverts under the road failed. Since the closure, drivers have been following a 3-mile detour that takes them over Swan, Herring and Shoup Roads.
More than $920,000 of Pate’s contract funds will come from the federal government. The Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority will provide the rest of the money, more than $191,000.
Runoff from the Black Forest fire burn scar, in addition to heavy rains in May and June of 2015, accelerated the culverts’ failure, the county said. The culverts were installed in 1976 and put 25 feet under the road’s surface. Now they are rusted and breaking apart, and compacted dirt around the culverts is washing away.
The county expects to have Black Forest Road reopened by July 1, assuming weather does not prevent crews from working on the road, said county engineer Andre Brackin.
El Paso County crews shut down a portion of Black Forest Road on Thursday, moving up the planned longterm closure of the road due to a failing culvert. On the south end of the closure, a road closed warning sign is reflected in a puddle of recent rain on Thursday, October 22, 2015. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette)