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Show i x A '- k s ' N.x y - - . . . j- (. ! Dewey Briilyre, an old historical' one-lane suspension bridge crosses the Colorado River on U-123. The bridge was designed in the early 20th century by State Road Crews involve'! in Improvement Work on Scenic River Road U-128 Easter weekend traditionally marks the beginning of the annual influx of tourists to the Moab area. One of the most popular enlryways of many Colorado visi'ors ia along the Colorado River ou U-128. Horace Sheeley and has seen much traffic by persons per-sons traveling the scenic entryway into Moab and Southeastern UUih. Early in its history, tha road was called the King's Toll Road and persons who wished to travel the roule were required to pay a fee for doing so. For many years the road remained a trail with a ferry at what is now th Dewey Bridgs. This rctr? used to be the only route into Castleton and served the north end of the LaSal mountains moun-tains as a means to receive mail on the stage from Cisco. Finally funds were available and work was completed that built the present road and paved 16 miles of U-123. Then for a time it seemed that th'ngs had come to a standstill stand-still again. Recently work has been revived and things ere looking up for the historic his-toric roadway. For the past several months State Road crews have been involved in a special authorization author-ization project which has been concerned with widening and straightening about 2 miles of the road to make it two lanes the ent're 41 miles except for Dewey Bridge. The present work, according to State Road Superintendent George White, is being done from Hittle Bottom to Nine Mile Bottom at a cost cf about $24,500. Surfacing on this stretch will be "in kind," which means the type of surfacing sur-facing material available in the immediate area. Oilier work has been done by a number of State and Local officials to build a road ifram the Dewey Bridge through Colorado National Monument and linto Fruita as part of the scenic parkways system. As yet, funding for this project is uncertain. Mayor May-or Winford Bunce stated that he hoped to have a group cf Congressmen a-nd Senators from Utah and Colorado in the area sometime this spring to view the proposed roadway. Continuing their work to make the old road passable in all weather, the State Road Ccmrn'ssion has announced that they now have a special authorization for this year for the reconstruction of the Ida Gulch Bridge cn U-123 a ta cost of $13,5:0. The commission commis-sion is also planning to ask the Department of Highways mis fall for a special authorization author-ization that would allow the crews to do about 6 miles of armour coating beginning at the end of the present pavement pave-ment and continuing north-easterly. north-easterly. At last, after a history of many years as not much more than a trail, U-128 is finally being recognized as one of the most scenic routes into southeastern Utah and is just now getting some attention. |