Noticias

• CDOT Plans for Regional Construction
• The Dark Veil of Romance

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CDOT Plans for Regional Construction

Like it or not, it’s construction season in the region, and it’s not looking to slow down.

The Colorado Department of Transportation will perform overnight roadwork at Society Turn from Monday through Wednesday, June 3. Work will run from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Last week, CDOT provided the San Miguel County Board of County Commissioners with an update on projects planned for the coming year.

“We will be doing a multimodal improvement project that’s focused in the communities of Rico, Norwood, Placerville, and Sawpit,” said Tony Cady of CDOT.

Cady said the project will look different in each community, but there are some consistent themes.

“Sidewalk improvements, curb, gutter, ADA ramps. The money is very specific to multimodal improvements – which are alternative modes of transportation or trying to connect to transit facilities,” Cady said.

While exact plans for the project have not been finalized, Janet Kask, parks and open space director for San Miguel County, said officials have discussed some ideas for Sawpit and Placerville.

“Slowing people down where we can, where it makes sense. A potential thinning of the roadway, planter boxes, flower boxes, they were talking about a pedestrian crossing in Sawpit. In Placerville, we were talking about curb cuts, sidewalks to get people from one end of Placerville proper to the post office, and then better delineation of parking area with curbs. Dressing it up, sprucing it up, but also adding safety to that,” Kask said.

CDOT and San Miguel County are seeking community feedback on the project and will provide opportunities for residents to get involved as planning moves forward.

Farther west, Cady said CDOT also will be doing work on Norwood Hill.

“We will be doing a rockfall mitigation project on Norwood Hill. There will be some road closures. There will be signal at the top and the bottom, and we’ll have one lane of traffic. There will be some times when they’re knocking rocks down the road that we’ll have to permanently close it for about 20 minutes at a time,” Cady said.

Cady said crews also will work on the bridge at the bottom of Norwood Hill and another bridge closer to Naturita.

Finally, to the north, CDOT plans to widen a portion of U.S. Highway 550 between Ridgway and Montrose.

“In a really dangerous section of road that’s had a couple fatalities over the last couple years. Near Billy Creek – where we build the wildlife underpass. We will be building shoulders, installing guardrail to prevent the run off the road accidents that have been a trend lately. We have good indication that the plans that we’re putting together right now will address the majority of the accidents that are happening in that area and hopefully solve some of the problems that we’re seeing,” Cady said.

Both the multimodal projects and the Norwood Hill work are scheduled to take place in 2027.

The work outside Ridgway is expected to take place in 2028.

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The Dark Veil of Romance

Local author Aggie Unda Tames writes under the pen name A. Unda Tames. She has released a new book, “Dante,” the third installment in the “Dark Veil” series.

The dark romance trilogy features cartels, impact play and power dynamics, with Dante and Mariana at the center. Other books in the Dark Veil series include “Mariana” and “Mateo.”

Unda Tames will host a book launch party at the Wilkinson Public Library on Thursday, June 4, from 6 to 7 p.m.

Unda Tames spoke with KOTO News about the book and feeling all the feels.

Julia Caulfield (JC): Aggie, thank you so much for being here today, taking a couple minutes to chat with me. You have your new book, “Dante,” is out. Can you just share for folks who maybe haven’t read it yet, they didn’t have it on pre-order, what this book is about?

Aggie Unda-Tames (AUT): This is the last book in the Dark Veil Series, and it’s a trilogy. It is a dark romance, it is a cartel romance. It’s the first book, even though I wrote it last, because readers really wanted to know what was happening before. So we have Dante and Mariana as our main characters.

JC: Without giving away too many spoilers, what do we see or learn or experience with Dante in this book?

AUT: Dante is a morally gray character. So throughout the books two and three, we do get to see things that he does that maybe we don’t understand fully why he’s doing them. Some of my readers were 50-50 with I love him and I hate him. And I think going back to book one, really now readers understand why he did the things that he did, which is part of the love of dark romance; understanding the reason behind the things that they do.

JC: With a dark romance, you know, as you said, he is a morally gray character, there may be some sides of this romance that are not the sunshine and rainbows side of things. Why is that a side of romance or a subgenre within romance that you’re drawn to, that you enjoy writing?

AUT: I really enjoy writing this for several reasons. One of them, it does give me a lot of creative ways of expressing it. There’s a lot of escapism that a reader wants to experience in a safe way. And probably even me as a writer, I get to experience those things in a safe environment. Please do check all the trigger warnings because mental health is very important. And this is a dark romance that contains organized crime and cartel, some impact play, intense power imbalances, grief. So do check trigger warnings, not only before reading “Dante,” but before reading any dark romance.

JC: What do you hope for folks who do read the book, obviously like a fun time, that they get out of it? Or what do you hope that they’re able to experience through this book?

AUT: Feel all the feelings. It’s a book that you get to feel it all. I love it when I read through reviews that they’re like, “I laughed and I cried and I fell in love and my heart got broken.” They’re rooting for like the main character and then they’re screaming. I think experiencing all these feelings is really rewarding. So I really hope that people and readers love that variety of feelings at the same time.

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Mountain Village Conducts Trail Work on Boomerang and Boulevard Trails

Mountain Village is conducting trail improvements this summer, with temporary delays planned over the next several weeks.

Boomerang Trail will experience occasional delays of up to 15 minutes near the top of the trail — approximately the upper 300 yards — as Mountain Village conducts forestry work for the Community Scale Shaded Fuel Break project.

At the same time, work is underway on Boulevard Trail from Russell Road to Highway 145. The trail will remain open during construction.

Mountain Village is asking trail users to follow posted signs and use caution around equipment on both trails.

Work is scheduled to run from June 1 through June 15.

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Western Slope Leaders Oppose Crystal River Dams

Local governments on Colorado’s Western Slope have signed an agreement opposing any future dams and diversions on the Crystal River, a tributary of the Roaring Fork River.

Parties to the intergovernmental agreement include Pitkin and Gunnison counties, the town of Marble, the West Divide Conservancy District and the Colorado River District.

The Crystal River is one of Colorado’s few remaining free-flowing rivers, and proposals to dam the river have surfaced in the past.

Michael Gorman of the environmental advocacy nonprofit Wilderness Workshop said the Crystal River is unique, but the effort to secure local support for its protection offers lessons for conservation efforts across the West.

“These things take a lot of time, and there really is a lot of value in bringing together diverse groups of stakeholders and having multiple voices at the table, especially groups who don’t see eye to eye, or maybe fully disagree on certain things,” Gorman said.

The agreement is part of a yearslong effort to secure permanent federal protections for the river, including a Wild and Scenic River designation from Congress.

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Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Released from Prison

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was released from prison Monday.

As Bente Birkeland reports for the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, Peters was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for her role in tampering with Mesa County voting machines while searching for evidence of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence, saying it was overly harsh. Polis also agreed with the Colorado Court of Appeals’ finding that Peters’ election-denial beliefs influenced the length of her sentence.

In an extraordinary move, the Colorado Democratic Party censured Polis, barred him from speaking at party functions and called the commutation “dangerous and reckless.”