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Hayden — Trucks can continue to deliver coal to the Hayden Station power plant even though all the road improvements have not been completed on Routt County Road 27.

On Tuesday, Routt County commissioners voted to extend Xcel's temporary special use permit for another year until November 2007.

"It's the interim fix to the short-term solution to the final answer," said Routt County planner John Eastman, when explaining the extension to the commissioners Doug Monger and Nancy Stahoviak.

Xcel is working on a long-term solution on how to get coal to Hayden Station involving rail.

Coal was trucked into Hayden Station until 2005 from Seneca mine using mainly privately owned haul roads. That mine has since shut down, and in 2003 Xcel applied for and was awarded a special-use permit to truck coal from Twentymile mine using County Road 27, also known as Twenty-mile Road. A condition to this permit was all road improvements had to be completed as required by the Road and Bridge Department. While road improvements were being made, Xcel was allowed to use County Road 27 using another special use permit set to expire on Nov. 15.

The extension allows Xcel and Routt County to complete County Road 27 improvements including a widening of portions of the road to a minimum of 30 feet, installation of truck climbing lanes and reconstruction of an intersection.

Stahoviak said she has always been concerned that County Road 27 would turn into a haul road.

"And I do think that's what has happened," she said. "Even thought I continue to have concerns, I feel at this point we're pretty much backed into a corner."

The permit will allow larger 70-ton trucks to use the road once the road freezes in an effort to reduce the number of trucks on the road. This has brought some concerns from neighbors in the area who are already concerned with trucks speeding and not staying in their lanes. The trucks, or doubles, would hall an additional trailer for coal.

"Clearly safety is about lessening the possibility of accidents, and doubles would half our traffic on the road," Monger said.

- To reach Matt Stensland, call 871-4210

or e-mail mstensland@steamboatpilot.com