MONDAY BRIEFING

Colorado running world belongs to Alamosa

Everything is a bit sunnier this Monday morning. On Friday Alamosa High brought home the Class 3A Region 1 girls and boys team titles and individual champions. Then on Saturday Adams State’s Brianna Robles won the RMAC women’s cross country crown in leading Adams State to the women’s team title. The Adams State men’s team finished second in the RMAC Championships. Read more about the Maroons efforts in this report. And for more on Robles, read her story here.

Now it’s on to the Colorado High School Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Colorado Springs for the Moose. For Robles and her Adams State teammates, they race again Nov. 20 at the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m feeling very excited for the future,” Robles told The Citizen after her victory Saturday. “I had a goal in mind going into this race and I think as a team we conquered that. I wasn’t nervous but confident as I kept telling myself throughout the race that I got this and all my training has led up to moments like these.”

CO 149 east of Creede: Bridge over Rio Grande
to be inspected next week  

MINERAL COUNTY ― The Colorado Department of Transportation will perform an inspection of the bridge structure over the Rio Grande, on CO Highway 149 just two miles east of Creede at mile point 18.8. The bridge inspection is expected to take one day to complete, on Monday Oct. 25, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

TRAFFIC IMPACTS: Motorists will encounter full stops, lane shifts and one-lane alternating traffic guided by flagging personnel and a pilot vehicle. Travelers should expect up to 20 minute delays and allow themselves extra travel time. A speed reduction of 40 MPH will be in place and drivers should slow down and use extreme caution when approaching and driving through the work zone over the bridge. 

Watch for Sand Dunes
prescribed burn in November

ALAMOSA COUNTY – The Great Sand Dunes National Park is working hard to make sure the public is aware of prescribed fire burn Nov. 8-18 if favorable weather and fuel conditions permit. As part of the national park’s hazardous fuels reduction efforts, fire managers from the park in partnership with Rio Grande National Forest are preparing to conduct a prescribed burn on up to 3,300 acres near the park’s northern boundary. The project area is located south of Baca Grande Subdivision, and approximately three miles south of Crestone, Colorado.

The fire operation will remain west of Liberty Road. Temporary closures along Liberty Road may occur during the operation to ensure public health and safety when firefighters are working along the road. The proposed November dates occur between hunting seasons and were selected to reduce impacts to recreational users on adjacent public lands where hunting is allowed. Hunting is not allowed within the national park where the prescribed burn will take place. 

Smoke will be visible from the Crestone and Baca Grande Subdivision, Colorado State Highway 17, and other locations in the San Luis Valley. Air quality considerations are an important part of prescribed fire, and each fire prescription is planned to disperse smoke rapidly and reduce lingering haze. However, smoke may still have adverse effects on some people’s health. For more information on how to mitigate health risks, visit https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.

Alamosa schools mask mandate
expires, depends on case rate

Alamosa School DistThe 14-day mask requirement put in place for Alamosa elementary and middle schools expires after Monday, Oct. 25. What happens next depends on whether those school buildings have gotten their COVID cases below 1 percent for the population of the buildings. Everything was trending well for both the elementary and middle school buildings based on data released last week by the Alamosa School District.

The school district’s COVID data can be accessed here. In its school reopening plan, the district provides the following guidance: “At the end of the 14 day period, masks will be highly recommended. On Monday, October 25, 2021, if the positive cases within a school are below 1%, masks will be highly encouraged but optional.”