The Colorado Department of Transportation has not issued a statement or news release concerning its newest plan for McCabe Creek, but the topic has come up at a number of recent town council and planning commission meetings, so Town Manager Greg Schulte graciously offered to facilitate a teleconference last Friday afternoon between SUN staff and CDOT representatives.
CDOT spokesperson Nancy Shanks, who normally explains CDOT projects for the press, asked project manager Ed Archuleta to join the conversation. As it turned out, Archuleta did most of the talking.
In August of 1967, there was a flood event that caused water from McCabe Creek to flow across the surface of U.S. 160. Although Archuleta didn’t have the exact date memorized, he knew the current culvert, which is made out of two large, corrugated steel tubes, was installed in the early 1960s.
In 2006, CDOT began inspecting culverts, and Region 5, which covers all of southwestern Colorado, conducted some of the first culvert replacement projects.
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