A contractor doing work for the Colorado Department of Transportation in Cortez and Pagosa Springs is interrupting work in Cortez to finish the job in Pagosa.

Skanska is scheduled to return to Cortez on July 21, CDOT communications manager Nancy Shanks said Tuesday. The company intends to finish the $5.7 million Cortez job on time, she said,

Meanwhile, the contractor will finish work at U.S. Highway 160 and Hurt Drive west of Pagosa Springs, Shanks said.

The company’s asphalt plant must be moved to Cortez to complete that work, Shanks said.

Prepaving work has been completed on Montezuma County Road P, which intersects Colorado State Highway 145 where the major portion of the work will occur.

The work on County Road P will be completed and then State Highway 145 will be paved from U.S. Highway 160 to the Dolores River Bridge, a distance of 9.4 miles.

“Safe road conditions and existing work zones will be maintained during the suspension of work in Cortez,” Shanks said. “When paving resumes, there will be single-lane, alternating traffic from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Motorists who use State Highway 145 may review CDOT lane closures, Shanks said, at www.coloradodot.info/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html.

daler@durangoherald.com