A Ouray County Sheriff team’s effort to remove a vehicle from a ravine two miles south of the tiny mountain town will close U.S. Highway 550 again Thursday between Silverton and Ouray starting at 9 a.m.

Motorists will have to travel early or take an alternate route, said Nancy Shanks, communications manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation in Durango.

A lengthy closure is anticipated. Shanks said. When a reopening time is announced by the sheriff, CDOT will post it on www.cotrip.com. Motorists also may learn real-time data by calling 511.

Otherwise, motorists traveling U.S. Highway 550 north of Silverton should plan carefully, Shanks said.

Ouray County Sheriff Dominic Mattivi said the vehicle is white, but he couldn’t specify the make or model.

Asked if the vehicle could be the white Cadillac Escalade driven by a missing Danish man believe to have visited the Ouray area last week, Mattivi said it’s possible.

“Nothing’s been confirmed,” Mattivi said.

The highway was closed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, when a crane attempted and failed to remove the vehicle, located more than 400 feet below the highway.

“We’re finished for (Wednesday),” Deputy Sheriff Derrick Linnell said Wednesday evening. “But we’ll be back (Thursday).”

The vehicle left the highway at mile marker 89, which places it two miles south of Ouray, Shanks said.

Mattivi said a wrecker, one of the biggest in Colorado, will be used Thursday. He said rescuers plan to bring the vehicle close for the crane to take over.

In another accident also on Wednesday, U.S. Highway 491 north of Pleasant View was closed about three hours after a 2003 Ford Escape crossed the center line and collided with a southbound 2012 Dodge Ram. The driver of the Escape was killed in the crash, which occurred at 10:19 a.m. The driver of the Ram was taken to Southwest Memorial Hospital with unknown injuries.

The Cortez Journal contributed to this report. daler@durangoherald.com