Federal funds approved to help with flood damaged roads in southwest Colorado

Crews in southwest Colorado have been working around the clock since floods washed out roads across the region last week. Now, they're getting a little extra help thanks to the release of federal relief funding.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration released $10.5 million in emergency relief funds, $6.5 million of which will go towards repairing damaged roads and bridges. The other $4 million will go to the U.S. Forest Service.

Last week's flooding covered certain roadways in more than 4 feet of water and inundated multiple state and local roads.

"Relief from our neighboring CDOT regions was welcomed as heavy equipment and operators arrived to provide extra support clearing culverts and ditches along flood-prone areas," CDOT said on Saturday. "Work to repair flood damage will be ongoing in order to restore vital routes between communities before winter."

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and CDOT said U.S. Highway 160, U.S. 550  and Colorado Highway 151 sustained significant structural damage. In a release Friday, Colorado officials thanked the Federal Highway Administration for its help.

"We are grateful to FHWA for acting so quickly and for their partnership," said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew.  "Southwest Colorado depends on these highways to move people, goods and emergency services. This funding means crews can start rebuilding now and restore safe and normal traffic patterns while the weather still lets us do the work. Under the best of circumstances, winter is a challenging time of year for both the traveling public and our highway maintainers who work around the clock to keep challenging mountain terrain safe. Restoring functionality to critical routes like US 550 and US 160 as quickly as possible is imperative."

"I'm glad that the Federal Highway Administration has approved our request for immediate assistance to repair roads and highways that have been severely damaged by this storm before the winter weather makes it harder to do this work. Coloradans, businesses, and emergency responders rely on these roads to get where they need to go and move goods across the state. We have resources on the ground now working around the clock to open damaged roads and highways, and this funding means our crews can start right away clearing debris and repaving roads," said Polis.

"We are so appreciative of the support and rapid engagement from our federal partners," said Transportation Commissioner Barbara McLachlan. "Just days ago, CDOT submitted an emergency relief request to the Federal Highway Administration which included quick-release funds to help get us back up and running before winter. Combined with the $5 million that the Transportation Commission approved from our contingency funds, these dollars will help us do just that. This is an example of partnership at work."   

More closures are possible as another round of heavy rain is expected to move into southwest Colorado over the weekend.