A combination of road repairs and logging-truck traffic is expected to cause traffic delays this summer on the Stoner Mesa Road (Forest Road 686) and West Dolores Road (FR 535) approximately 22 miles northeast of Dolores.

Seven different landslide-repair projects will take place along the Stoner Mesa Road, an unpaved forest-access road, over the next four months. For safety reasons, traffic may be blocked for up to 30 minutes at a time along narrow stretches of the road while work is under way. At the same time, trucks will be hauling logs from the Clyde Lake Timber Sale, which has several cut units located along both sides of the Stoner Mesa Road. Both the logging activity and road repairs on the Stoner Mesa Road are already under way.

"The road work, in addition to 12 to 16 logging trucks coming off the mesa per day, could cause some traffic delays on the Stoner Mesa Road this summer," said Bill Ivy, San Juan National Forest West Zone engineer. "Because of these factors, bringing any kind of trailer up the Stoner Mesa Road this summer may be treacherous."

Impacts to adjacent roads include minimal increase in truck traffic on the West Dolores Road and Colorado Highway 145. All logging trucks will be heading south on the West Dolores Road as they come of the Stoner Mesa Road, according to Regina Reinschmidt, Mancos-Dolores District timber-sale administrator. When the trucks reach the intersection with the highway, most will head south toward local mills, but about a third will head east toward Montrose.

Work will begin later this summer to repair a slide at mile marker 15.5 on the West Dolores Road. The reconstruction work will include widening the road to two 12-foot lanes. Delays on this stretch of road could reach up to one hour.