Motorists traveling over Red Mountain Pass should expect lengthy weekday delays starting next week, as San Miguel Power Association continues to rebuild its power line on the pass.
A roughly three-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 over the pass will be closed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 2-4, Sept. 9-11 and Sept. 16-18. The closures, which are weather-dependent, will run from the north end of Ironton Park at mile marker 90.8 to just south of the Bear Creek tunnel at mile marker 87.5.
Crews will maintain access to County Road 18, which is the road leading over Engineer Pass. But construction equipment will be located within the unloading area at the intersection of U.S. 550 and County Road 18, limiting the number of vehicles and trailers that can use that area for parking.
Two-way traffic will not be allowed within the work zone.
The rural electric cooperative is in the midst of the third phase of the Red Mountain Electrical Reliability and Broadband Improvement Project. The primary goal of the project is to replace SMPA’s transmission line between the top of the pass and Ouray. The line, which was originally constructed in 1928, serves as the backup power source for Ouray and Ridgway.
The project started in 2021 with crews clearing vegetation around the power lines. Reconstruction of the transmission line is expected to continue next year and finish in 2027, assuming it’s approved by the SMPA board of directors.
