Larimer County Road 27 should be passable by Dec. 24

Larimer County’s Buckhorn Canyon Road (County Road 27) sustained a great deal of damage from the floods in September of 2013. Repairs to this road have been ongoing since last July. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the county estimates that gravel roads will be open later this month, by Dec. 24.

Larimer County will be placing message boards at several locations advising motorists of occasional daytime closures or delays. While the road will be open to traffic, construction will continue through the winter and into the spring of 2015 as road paving is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015 to complete the road construction.

Work on this project, the Buckhorn Canyon Road between Masonville and Stove Prairie has been extensive:

· Extensive riprap to repair and prevent scour was required at some locations
· Concrete wing walls needed to be extended and guardrails installed at some locations.

Several hundred feet of roadside stream bank stabilization was required along Buckhorn Creek. At the temporary low water crossings (dips) on the Buckhorn 4.0, 6.1 and 8.0 miles north of CR 38E, concrete box girder bridges needed to be constructed and the bridges at these temporary low water crossings are close to completion.

Reconstruction of 1.7 miles of the roadway through the “narrows” was required. Four 20’x10′ concrete box culverts and approximately 50,000 cubic yards of rock excavation (blasting) were required to provide a 24′ wide roadway (no shoulders) elevated and protected from the 5-year flood. Work on the four concrete box culverts will be ongoing through the winter.

FEMA will provide 75 percent of the funding for the project while the state Office of Emergency Management and the county will each provide 12.5 percent. The construction budget for this project is $16 million.

For questions regarding this road reconstruction project, contact project manager Matt Johnson at [email protected] or 970-498-5724.