(The following story by Beverly Corbell appeared on The Daily Sentinel website on October 22.)
DELTA, Colo. — After three months of work, Union Pacific Railroad has realigned more than a mile of track through Delta, setting the stage for a new truck route bypass.
Moving 1.6 miles of track was the first phase for creating a truck route that bypasses Main Street, which is also U.S. Highway 50, Delta Assistant City Manager Steve Glammeyer said. The railroad also eliminated three road crossings, leaving the city a total of two, and built a new bridge over the Uncompahgre River.
The railroad realignment was part of a bigger project by Delta County, Union Pacific and area coal companies to improve all of the railroad crossings in the county, but it also helped the planning for the truck route, which was first proposed in 1945, Glammeyer said.
More than 30,000 vehicles, including many large trucks, pass through downtown on U.S. 50 every day, creating traffic problems and safety issues, Glammeyer said.
The railroad realignment on the west side of the city involved moving the track only a few feet in some places, in others up to five blocks, Glammeyer said.
“Basically we made a horizontal line out of a 180-degree curve,” he said.
The city recently requested proposals for the final design of the truck route. Officials want the route to include an overpass over the railroad, which would enable traffic to flow when coal trains pass through town, Glammeyer said.
“It’s a huge safety problem with all the emergency services and the hospital on the south side of the railroad track and a lot of citizens living on the north side,” he said. “Obviously we’re trying to create another route to get into north Delta if there’s a train blockage.”
Proposals for the truck route are due by the end of the year, Glammeyer said.
Creating the new truck route will reduce truck traffic on U.S. 50 downtown by 70 percent by 2030, according to www.deltatruckroute.com.
The new route will go south from U.S. 50 at Gunnison River Drive at the north end of town to just south of Twelfth Street, where it will reconnect with Highway 50.
“The alternative route is still a ways off, and we’re in the process of garnering rights of way,” Glammeyer said.