Spike in wrecks prompts concern, improvements

The Colorado Department of Transportation has agreed to lower the speed limit in a section of U.S. Highway 550 north of Ridgway after a series of fatal and serious-injury accidents in 2025 prompted public outcry. Photo by Erin McIntyre | Ouray County Plaindealer

News

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com, on December 31, 2025

TOP STORIES OF THE YEAR: HIGHWAY 550 SAFETY CONCERNS

Spike in wrecks prompts concern, improvements

A spike in fatal and serious-injury accidents on U.S. Highway 550 in Ouray County in 2025 caught the attention of the public and the Colorado Department of Transportation, which moved to expedite some safety improvements on the highway.

Calendar & Events, Feature...

Calendar & Events

December 31, 2025

Thursday, January 1 Polar Bear plunge at the Ouray Hot Springs Pool, at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 3 Trivia Night. Free to attend. 7 p.m. at the Wright Opera House, 472 Main St. in Ouray. Wednesday, Jan...

Main, News...

Oh, what fun it is to dance

December 24, 2025

Main, News...

Affordable housing nonprofit to expand across state

Telluride-based Rural Homes plans to build 120 new units in 2026, but future of Ouray project unclear

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

December 24, 2025

Telluride-based Rural Homes is entering a new era of affordable housing work across the state after bringing on a new CEO and looking beyond pilot projects in Ouray and San Miguel counties. The afford...

Feature

SEASON OF SHARING

Second Chance Humane Society

December 24, 2025

Editor's note: The Ouray County Plaindealer is continuing its tradition of featuring nonprofit organizations based in Ouray County, serving Ouray County in a series of profiles called Season of Sharin...

Feature

Home Trust of Ouray County

December 24, 2025

Year established as a nonprofit: 2018 What does your organization do for Ouray County? Affordable housing remains one of the most pressing challenges facing Ouray County, where the median price for a ...

Feature

SEASON OF SHARING

Sherbino Theater/ Ridgway Chautauqua

December 24, 2025

Letters, Opinion...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Time to reconsider policing in Ouray

December 24, 2025

Dear Editor: With the departure of Interim Police Chief Daric Harvey, Ouray once again faces instability in its police department. Rather than automatically rebuilding the same structure, this feels l...

Letters, Opinion...

Let’s recommit to being kind, understanding

December 24, 2025

Dear Editor: As we welcome the winter solstice, and the slow return of the light, I want to share some thoughts for the season, and the year to come. I believe the core values of the season, whatever ...

Columns, Opinion...

From start to finish, a too-warm, too-dry 2025

December 24, 2025

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Wunderground’s “meteorologists qualify a white Christmas as one with at least an inch of snow on the ground [SOG] on Christmas morning,” (Hayden Marshall and Jonathan Er...

Feature

SEASON OF SHARING

Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership

December 24, 2025

Feature

SEASON OF SHARING

West Region Wildfire Council

December 24, 2025

Year established as a nonprofit: 2007 What does your organization do for Ouray County? With wildfires becoming a greater and greater risk to Western Colorado, WRWC strives to educate and aid in wildfi...

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines