Kinder Morgan will pay up to $1.5 million to repave 4.5 miles of Road CC starting at the intersection with U.S. 491.
Work will not begin until construction of new CO2 facilities and wells in the Pleasant View area are completed, which could take until 2018.
"The agreement is signed, and the money is in the bank," said county administrator Mellissa Brunner. "The road is torn up from very heavy equipment that had to be trucked into the site."
Heavy damage to Road CC from oil-and-gas trucking has riled residents and the Montezuma County commission. The road was once paved, but the asphalt has deteriorated, creating soft spots and poor shoulders that have caused accidents.
Until the repaving, the county road department has been applying magnesium chloride to the road to control dust, and shoring up soft spots with a cement mix.
The county recently moved to a bonding system for repairing roads damaged by heavy industry.
"Now, companies like Kinder Morgan will bond a road for its total value, then if it gets torn up, repairs go against the bond," Brunner said. "It is a simpler system with less back-and-forth negotiations."
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com
