By Matt Gleckman

The intersection of U.S. Highway 160 and Colorado Highway 184 in Mancos is going to be altered, but transportation officials say it’ll be years before construction on the intersection actually begins.

Last month, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), Region 5, selected Wilson & Company Engineers & Architects to design and implement necessary improvements to the intersection.

"Planning is probably going to begin by the middle of April or the first of May," said Peter Borner, project manager for Wilson & Company.

Before any plans are set, a series of public meetings will be held in order to hear possible construction ideas as well as concerns from Mancos residents and local business owners.

"Right now we are in the very preliminary stages," Borner said. "Concepts have not yet been developed, and CDOT is not planning on beginning construction until the spring of 2002."

CDOT’s project manager, Bahram Seifipour, said that $500,000 has been set aside for the project’s design, while roughly $5,051,200 will be put into the construction.

"This is just a preliminary number," Seifpour said Friday. "We will still have to do a number of traffic studies as well as receive public input before construction begins."

About 80 Mancos citizens attended the first in a series of community meetings regarding the dangerous intersection, according to a Feb. 9 Mancos Times report.

There was a general agreement that safety is a key criterion, and most seemed to agree the way to that objective is to slow traffic on U.S. Highway 160 while entering and exiting the intersection, according to the report.

Discussion at the meeting included the possibility of three consecutive stoplights along Highway 160 within the town limits, as well as developing new access points to 160 throughout Mancos.

Bill Ray, the Mancos town manager, reported that CDOT currently has a hanging, 4-way flashing light on order as a temporary measure.

In the past there have been a number of serious accidents at the Mancos intersection which have included several fatalities.