The San Juan National Forest road crew spent time on Bolam Pass last month to repair a slump that had damaged a 30-foot-long portion of the Hermosa Park Road (FS Road 578) on the Rico side of the pass.
Until the repair work, the public had to drive through a road-side ditch to maneuver around the affected area to complete the popular scenic drive from Durango Mountain Resort. Roads manager Pete Merkel and engineer Allen McCaw came up with a fix that included reinforcing the fill slope with large boulders and building it back up by compacting layers with filter fabric.
Aggregate left over from the Cayton Campground renovation was added to the filter fabric and gravel. After the ditch was reshaped, disturbed areas were reseeded. The project took three days, with traffic restricted through the area for only one day.
"I think it will hold up well," Merkel says. "The real heroes are backhoe operator, Jon Smith, his swamper, Joe Muller, and grader operator, Dave Watkins."