ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

County Road 211 is being partially realigned and designated 210 as the construction of the Animas-La Plata Project reservoir west of Bodo Industrial Park is about to cover the asphalt with water.

The eastern end was anchored at Centennial Plaza on U.S. Highway 550/160 and served as the access road to the construction area.

"The 19,600-foot realignment is our effort to return to La Plata County the section of CR 211 that will be under water," Tyler Artichoker, the A-LP first-fill engineer, said Friday as crews from J-H Supply Co. of Albuquerque installed guardrails by pile drivers on the realigned stretch of road.

Highway guardrail are being placed first where fill dirt was hauled. The crews will return with rock drills to install guardrails by hydraulic pile drivers on sections of the realignment that cut through hillsides.

The federal agency is paying for the $15 million job, Artichoker said.

The western end of CR 211, which contains developed and undeveloped lots and which has been reached via County Road 141 (Wildcat Canyon) since CR 211 was closed to the public in 2002, will keep its former name.

Under the realignment, County Road 210 will intersect CR 141 east of where old CR 211 joins CR 141.

The Bureau of Reclamation owns the Animas-La Plata Project, of which the reservoir is a part. Stored water, pumped from the Animas River, will be shared by three Native American tribes and nontribal users in Colorado and New Mexico.

Artichoker said the reservoir, named Lake Nighthorse, on Friday contained 65,000 acre-feet of water. When filled sometime next year, the reservoir will hold 120,000 acre-feet.

Construction of more than 15 miles of traffic safety barriers by pile drivers around the reservoir is scheduled to start Monday, Artichoker said. Until work is completed, the reservoir is off-limits to the public.