Stoplight at Mancos junction

Stoplight at Mancos junction

April 26, 2001

By Tom Vaughan
Mancos Times Editor

Gov. Bill Owens, during a speech Monday to the Durango Area Chamber Resort Association, announced that State Transportation Director Tom Norton had approved the contract to install a temporary stoplight at the U.S. 160/State Highway184 intersection in Mancos.

Bahram Seifipour, Colorado Department of Transportation project manager for the intersection project, reported to the Mancos Mayor’s Transportation Committee Tuesday that Four Corners Materials, Inc., was the sole bidder on the temporary stoplight installation.

The $407,143 bid was 14 percent above the engineering estimate of $357,145. According to Seifipour, the law allows the CDOT director to award a contract when there are less than three bidders and the amount is under $1 million, even though the bid is more than 10 percent over the estimate.

In this instance, CDOT will boost the temporary stoplight project’s budget to $490,000. Work is expected to begin in May and be completed before July 4, 2001.

"We have a state law that says that any time that a project only has one bidder, or a project comes in with three bidders above a certain amount, the Department of Transportation Director Tom Norton can waive the normal process," Owens said. "Yesterday morning that occurred. The project came in at $50,000 over budget and there was only one bidder, so he looked at and made the judgement that we would not save money by re-bidding, and that there was no chance of getting additional bidders.

"It was a fair bid and it was in the public interest to accept it. It’s approved. I can’t tell you how many weeks or months until the light’s up, but it’s approved."

The long-range reconstruction of the intersection and its approaches, may cost another $5 million and wait till 2005 for completion.

This year’s work will change U.S. 160 in three locations:

The treatment of the intersection with Highway 184 will include a tri-colored stoplight, the frontage roads will be blocked off at the intersection and there will be painted medians and lane indicators.
The exit from U.S. 160 at Park Street, the unpaved road that goes south toward Boyle Park after connecting with East Railroad Avenue, will have a major impact on travel in the vicinity of the park. CDOT is working with the town to see if federal money would be available to improve the route around the park, estimated to cost $78,000.
Willow Street is slated for a full-movement interchange in the long-range plan, with the possibility of another stoplight being installed there when traffic conditions warrant. This year’s work will ease access to roadside businesses on West Railroad Avenue and to the school. The long-range work will make this a major highway access for residents of the northwest quadrant of Mancos.

Seifipour, accompanied by CDOT engineers Ed Demming and Dick Langoni, also engaged the transportation committee in a discussion of signing. The large, brand-name signs are only used on interstate highways, he said. However, the blue-and-white international logo signs (gas pump, tableware, bed, tent, restrooms, etc.) could be placed along the highways where travelers looking for food, lodgings, gas or other services would have time to get off the highway.

CDOT officials promised to bring a map of the suggestions back to the town for discussion at the May 8 meeting of the transportation committee.

There also are "TODS" — Tourism-Oriented Directional Signs — which direct highway travelers to specific businesses (several are on U.S. 160 now). They are privately administered under specific legislative authority and not under CDOT control.

The CDOT representatives promised CDOT would be represented at the second committee meeting of every month. The Mayor’s Transportation Committee meets at the town hall every Tuesday at 10 a.m.; the meetings are open to the public.