Life for Cortez troopers in the Colorado State Patrol just got a bit easier — a local office is taking shape in the form of a modular unit to be erected at the Ute Mountain Rest Area on U.S. 160.

According to Capt. Alan Terbrink of the Durango Troop, the unit will be shipped to Cortez in the near future.

While the State Patrol is presently unable to operate the office 24 hours a day, it comes as a boon to local troopers who have been operating out of their homes since 1998.

Sgt. Ted Griffith added that the unit is due to arrive at the end of this week.

It will take a few weeks more before the unit is fully operational, he said, and a telephone number will be announced at that time.

The project is funded by the Colorado State Patrol, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation, on whose property the new office will sit.

"We can have a location that’s actually ours," Griffith said. "We’re not really accessible to the public, but now we will have a place."

In 1998, the State Patrol lost the office it had occupied for years at the Justice Building when Sheriff Joey Chavez said he needed the space for his department.

Troopers were faced with two choices: do the work on the road, or take it home.

The public also suffered, as it had to attempt to contact troopers — for traffic reports, complaints and information — through the Durango administration, and, more recently, through Montrose.

Not having "a place to meet the public has been one of the downfalls of not having an office," said local Trooper David Van Bibber.

Although it won’t necessarily lessen "relays" to Durango, where traffic tickets, evidence and crash reports are processed, Van Bibber said the office will provide a "centrally located spot" where troopers can fill out reports and store evidence.

"I think everyone is very pleased to finally have an office and a place to do their paperwork," he said.