Under an preliminary plan by the Colorado Department of Transportation and Montezuma County, by next year Road BB south of Pleasant View will no longer meet up with U.S. 491. Traffic will instead be directed to Road CC, a mile north.
“We figure directing people one mile out of the way, is worth saving lives,” said county road manager Rob Englehart. “There have been bad accidents and fatalities there.”
The problem with the intersection is the limited line of sight for vehicles taking a left from the highway onto Road BB. A slight hill on the highway obstructs the view of southbound, oncoming traffic, which can be traveling 65 mph, and often faster.
“By they time they see you turning left, it’s often too late to brake or get out of the way in time,” Englehart said.
Under a preliminary agreement with CDOT, Montezuma County has agreed to completely close off the intersection, he said. In return, CDOT would pay $630,000 to chip seal County Road 15 to get travelers back to Road BB from Road CC.
Besides accessing farms and residences, Road BB is also a main route for visitors to Canyons of the Ancients and Hovenweep National monuments via Road 10.
New signs by the National Park Service will be installed to direct travelers to Road CC, then south to Road 15. From there they will travel Road BB to Road 10 and on to public lands.
Englehart said closing the intersection is expected to begin in spring.
An earlier plan to make Road BB a “right in, right out only” has been dropped in favor of closing it, he said. The worry is that northbound traffic will make a U-turn on the highway to access the road, adding to the safety problem.
The county and CDOT also want to make nearby Road 16 a “right in, right out only,” where it intersects with the highway to improve safety there.
In other road news, next year Kinder Morgan will spend $1.5 million to repave 4.2 miles of Road CC from the highway. The road is a main truck route for the company to access its CO2 infrastructure in the area.
From the end of the new asphalt, the county plans to chip seal Road CC to Road 10. In 2018 the county plans to chip seal Road 10 to Road BB from Road CC. Also in 2018, the county is planning to begin chip-sealing Road P between Colo. 145 and U.S. 491, which has seen a dramatic increase in traffic.
According to Journal records, there have been at least two fatalities at or near the Road BB and U.S. 491 intersection.
In 2014, a SUV and semi collided, killing one person. In 2012, a driver was killed in a car that was apparently trying to make a U-turn on U.S. Highway 491 near the Hovenweep turnoff and pulled out in front of a southbound water truck. A child in the car was seriously injured and transported by helicopter to a hospital.
