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Montrose-Gunnison Rt 50 Road Construction 2020

PostPosted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:09 am
by Dan Bereck
Beginning in the summer of 2020 through the fall of 2021, Route 50, 30 miles east of Montrose and 33 miles west of Gunnison, will be undergoing a major road re-construction project, which will close the highway for days at a time and bring traffic to a crawl when open. This construction is in the Alpine Plateau Road area off of Rt 50. Detours will be very long and time consuming. This work was schedule to begin in the summer of 2019 but it has been postponed until the summer of 2020. Additional information can be obtained by goggling, “Little Blue Creek Canyon construction”. Mountaineers need to plan according since this road closure and delay may impact desired plans. Rt 149 to Lake City, off of Rt 50, west of Gunnison, should not be impacted for drivers coming from the east. Drivers coming from the west will be impacted. For Front Range mountaineers desiring to access peaks south of Montrose, off of Rt 550, from Ridgway to near Durango, I-70 may be a better route than Rt 285 and Rt 50, which will be impacted. Durango access via Rt 285 and Rt 160 should also be fine for Front Range drivers. Mountaineers from Montrose to Silverton and west will be impacted greatly by this construction when accessing peaks in the middle to east San Juan Mountains. The road construction does not begin until 2020 so plan your 2019 plans accordingly.

Re: Montrose-Gunnison Rt 50 Road Construction 2020

PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2020 1:37 pm
by Dan Bereck
The start of the construction for this area has now been postponed until June 2021.

Re: Montrose-Gunnison Rt 50 Road Construction 2020

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 3:13 pm
by CandaceS
Thanks for the update! 8)

Re: Montrose-Gunnison Rt 50 Road Construction 2020

PostPosted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:06 pm
by Dan Bereck
Road construction is to begin April 19, 2021. A few weeks later than planned so that may say much about how this construction will go. The following traffic schedule below is supposed to go through April 2022. After April 2022, the road will have alternating traffic during the day and nighttime closures (probably 7:30 PM-6:30 AM) through 2022.

Weekend Travel: The road will be open to traffic from 5:30 PM on Friday, through the weekend, closing at 8:30 AM Monday morning.

Weekday Travel: The road will be open 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM Monday through Friday; 12:30 to 1:30 PM; and 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Full closures will occur from 8:30 AM-12:30 PM; 1:30 PM-5:30 PM; and from 7:30 PM-6:30 AM.

All closures and operations are weather dependent and subject to change. (Their words not mine.)

The detour for passenger vehicles and small trucks is CO Highway 92 and 50 which will take 1.5 hours from or to Montrose to or from the east side of the closure. Route 70 toward Grand Junction should be used by Front Range travelers heading to the San Juan Mountains via Route 50 or 550 via Montrose/Ouray/Silverton.

Re: Montrose-Gunnison Rt 50 Road Construction 2020

PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:06 pm
by CandaceS
Last May, you posted that construction would begin in June 2021. So it seems like they're actually getting started early?

At any rate, this is going to be a mess for people traveling through that region this summer!