Market St. project approved

MEEKER I At the town’s Sept. 6 board meeting, members approved a plan to allow WREA to relocate the overhead power lines in Ute Park.WREA representatives approached the board Aug. 22 and presented the plan. After discussing the proposition, it was decided by the town board of trustees and staff that moving the overhead lines is in the best interest of the people who make use of Ute Park and approved an ordinance to put the project in motion.“The (new) line locations are conceptual at the present time,” said Town Administrator Sharon Day. Once the engineering is complete and the new sites legally defined, easements will be recorded and old easements abandoned.Also at the Sept. 6 meeting, the town entered into an intergovernmental  agreement (IGA) with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to begin work on the Market Street project. “The town chose the engineer, SGM, in February and has been waiting for the state to get the intergovernmental agreement prepared and to the town since then,” Day stated.The agreement now has to be sent back to CDOT and signed before the engineer can begin the design for the project. The project is expected to include the construction of sidewalks along Market Street. On an ordinary town street, adding sidewalks is up to the town, but since Market Street is also Colorado State Highway 13, any changes, from adding sidewalks to installing streetlights, have to be approved by CDOT first.