136th Year... and
still on the job!
Monday April 11,
2005
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136th Year... and
still on the job!
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Monday April 11,
2005
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It still may be a long time before the first artillery shell is broken apart and its mustard agent destroyed, but one part of the chemical demilitarization project that will benefit many Pueblo workers should get under way soon.
By next week, work is expected to be completed on the local paperwork for the $29 million Defense Access Road project. Its primary purpose is to provide a new access way to get in and out of the Pueblo Chemical Depot, but the project also will provide a long-needed western access for the city's airport industrial park.
The Defense Access Road is a joint project by the federal government, Pueblo County and the state.
The "road" is made up mostly of existing streets. Only about 1.1 mile of new highway will actually be built, but another nearly 20 miles of roads now in use will be widened and improved and signals installed at two intersections.
Once the local papers are submitted, the Army will send it to the Department of Defense comptroller. From there, it will go to the House of Representatives to start the process of congressional approval to move the money from the defense budget to the Federal Highway Administration.
The local and Defense Department officials involved hope that the process will be done by May or June.
In the meantime, another road building project could get started in the next few weeks on the chemical depot grounds. That is the 6-mile stretch just inside the northern boundary of the base from the mustard agent igloos in the northeast corner to a new entry gate in the northwest corner where the DOT Road that serves the Transportation Technology Center Inc. brushes by the Army land.
While funds for the Defense Access Road project on civilian territory needs to be transferred from the defense budget to the FHWA, money for the road inside the base comes directly from a Defense Department allocation already in place for the chemical depot.
Officials of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives project, which is overseeing the program here, are in talks now with Bechtel, which will seek subcontractors to build the road shortly, along with a new security gate and fences.
Outside the base, the Defense Access Road project includes:
Apply a new overlay of the DOT Road from the eastern boundary of the industrial park to the new access point at a cost of $859,000, all of which comes from the federal government. (Pueblo County recently improved the entire DOT Road and Public Works Director Greg Severance said that the portion of the work done from the industrial park to the access point came to $7 million. That figure was counted toward the county's 34 percent share of the entire DAR project.)
Reconstruct and widen United Avenue, the main road through the eastern part of the industrial park, and William White Boulevard, which runs through the western part of the park. Cost is estimated at $12.7 million, with Pueblo County paying $315,000.
Extend William White Boulevard 1.2 miles to meet Colorado 47. The cost will be divided among the federal government, paying $3.9 million; Pueblo County, $2.2 million; and the Colorado Department of Transportation, $500,000. The cost estimates include purchasing a right-of-way from rancher John Thatcher. Severance says the land has been appraised and county officials will be negotiating with Thatcher soon.
Widen a mile-long, two-lane section of Colorado 47 to a point just south of the new intersection at a cost of $2.2 million, paid by the federal government.
Signals also will be installed at the intersections of William White and Paul Harvey boulevards and where William White connects to Colorado 47.
The Defense Department decided some time ago that the existing intersection providing access to the base, with ramps and a flyover bridge, would be inadequate for the kind of traffic the chemical weapons destruction project will generate.
The cost of improving that intersection would come to $30 million and, in addition, roads inside the chemical depot would have to be replaced, further adding to the cost.
Local, state and federal officials studied five other alternatives to provide better access to the Pueblo Chemical Depot without replacing the existing interchange.
In addition to the option that was selected were:
Connecting a new north gate to the DOT Road, improving that road and United Avenue and building a new interchange at Paul Harvey Boulevard and U.S. 50.
Connecting the north gate to the DOT Road, and routing traffic north, then east and then south. That would require improvements on the DOT Road, the IL Ranch Road which runs to the east and turns south to Colorado 96, where a new intersection would be built.
Connecting the north gate to DOT Road and building a new highway around the north side of the Pueblo Memorial Airport, connecting to Colorado 47 at Baculite Mesa Road.
Connecting the north gate to DOT Road, improving DOT Road and United Avenue and putting in a new intersection with U.S. 50 at 27th Lane.
Severance said that the other options would have involved large stretches of new road construction or new interchanges with U.S. 50, which would be more costly than the intersection with Colorado 47.
He said there was no discussion of resurrecting an old suggestion that DOT Road be extended north to connect to Powers Boulevard in El Paso County.
Besides being cheaper than the other alternatives, the DAR project that was approved gives the chemical depot two access points, with the current gate available in emergencies.
It also gives the city's industrial park better traffic circulation. One of the park's biggest problems has been the choke point at Paul Harvey Boulevard, which occasionally floods, blocking cars from leaving the park. It also is a safety concern after an explosion at the Air Products last year sealed off businesses along William White west of the emergency site.