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Steamboat Springs — After nearly two months of delays, the $1.23 million construction project to repair a section of Routt County Road 76, the Cog Road, is set to begin Monday.

Paul Draper, Routt County Road and Bridge director, said he expects the contractor, American Civil Constructors, to significantly reduce the projected construction period by bringing more equipment to the site northwest of Hayden.

The contract for the job was awarded Sept. 6, and construction originally was expected to start within 15 days. However, fabrication of steel beams needed to shore up the outside of the slide area took longer than expected.

“We believe they are going to bring in two drilling rigs” that would work side by side on the road that climbs a butte overlooking Hayden, Draper said. He told the Routt County Board of Commissioners on Monday that representatives of the contractor and the county’s consulting geotechnical engineer had walked the site earlier in the day. The county has a grant of $582,000 from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to pay for a portion of the repair bill.

“I hope we don’t have any more mudslides; this is getting expensive,” Commission Chairman Doug Monger said.

The county will take money out of its reserves to pay for the remaining $648,000 of the project cost.

Now, the original Dec. 1 completion date has been moved back to Dec. 31, Draper said. The construction originally was expected to require two months, but American Civil Contractors will use the twin drilling rigs to cut the time roughly in half.

The Cog was reduced to one lane of traffic after the winter of 2007-08 after a mudslide pushed a portion of the pavement down the hill on the opposite side of the road.

Traffic will be able to continue along the county road with minor delays during construction, Draper said.

The repair involves boring horizontal holes 60 to 70 feet long under the road and into the embankment on the opposite side. Steel cables called tie-backs will be inserted into the holes and anchored in the ground with concrete, Draper said. As crews anchor each tie-back, they will pair it with a beam inserted 15 to 25 feet into the ground. A bolt on the end of the tie-back will be inserted through a hole in the beam and attached with a washer and a nut.

The beams will be repeated every 15 to 25 feet along the 650-foot length of the area under repair.

“After the concrete cures, they’ll be able to come back through and tension the tie-backs,” Draper said. A guardrail will complete the work to repair the road.

Draper told the commissioners he was pleased with a recently completed project to repair damage from the Elkhead mudslide west of Hayden on Routt County Road 86.