Penrose residents who frequently travel 3rd Street west of Highway 115 are enjoying 1.7 miles of new pavement. The road deteriorated greatly over the years due to a lot of truck traffic.
Road crews with the Fremont County Department of Transportation have initiated their busy summer schedule of paving and chip seal projects. Crews have spent the last two weeks applying new asphalt pavement to 3rd Street in Penrose. 3 inches of new asphalt was applied to 1.7 miles of 3rd Street. The project extended west from the Brush Hollow Reservoir turnoff on Colorado Highway 115.
With that project completed Fremont County road crews will now begin chip and seal road projects. Chip seal work will be performed on County Road 12 north from Cotopaxi the week of July 6th. During the week of July 13th crews will be chip sealing a portion of County Road 28 in the Copper Gulch area. Ash Street south of Cañon City will see some chip seal work during the week of July 20th.
Later this summer crews will also be laying down new asphalt on Elm Avenue between 9th Street and County Road 143 which is the Oak Creek Grade Road. The county was hoping to pave Oak Creek Grade itself south from that intersection, but that project will be delayed until next year.
A portion of County Road 1A south of Cotopaxi gets some asphalt along portions of the road's shoulder which has crumbled away over the years.
The other major paving work this summer is Phase 2 of the regional road project south of Florence. Fremont County secured another $351,000 in Energy and Mineral Impact grant funds from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to deal with impacts from oil field truck traffic. After paving was completed a year ago in the Coal Creek area, Phase 2 work this summer will include a 3-inch asphalt overlay of one mile of North and South Frazier Avenue on the west side of Florence. Phase 2 also includes 3 inches of new asphalt over a distance of 1.85 miles of County and Coal Creek Roads 13, 13A, and 84A.
District 2 Commissioner Debbie Bell notes the regional road project is to be completed in phases over five years through 2018 improving over 21 ½ miles of roads in the Florence, Coal Creek, Williamsburg, and Rockvale areas relying in large part on energy impact grants. All of the communities and Fremont County also provide matching dollars, equipment, and manpower.