Re: RGS bridge 162-B

Wayne Hoskin Wrote:
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> So I am presuming that the 160 is built over the
> top of the RGS road bed, or near enough too? How
> far does 160 follow the RGS before they part
> ways?
>
In some part. In places they were side-by-side back in the day the widening of 160 has covered the grade, in others the grade has been covered by new construction.
US 160 was built/rerouted in 1951 to take a new, direct route from Franklin Jct (Lightner Creek Trestle, 160-A) to Hesperus. So about 2+ miles.
The old road, which follows the RGS up through Porter to Pine, is now called the Wildcat Canyon Road. The area around MP 150 where the RGS went up to the level of the LA Plata River on a couple of big loops, is now a housing development. Part of the grade is used for streets. A few miles North, the road along the La Plata to Hesperus parallels the grade into Hesperus.
To finish the tale, US 160 is beside the RGS grade from Hesperus to Cima, then drops down into the Cherry creek Valley while the RGS remains on the slopes above. They get close again at Grady but don't actually coincide again until Mancos, where the new highway(bypass) is on the site of the RGS for a mile or two until the RGS heads up Chicken Creek towards Millwood.
hank