Highway 287: The Road Colorado Decided to Drown

In the foothills north of Fort Collins, Colorado, seven miles of a United States highway are scheduled to disappear under one hundred and seventy thousand acre feet of water. The paperwork is signed. The engineering contractor is already hired. The replacement road is being drawn right now, on drafting tables, east of a ridge the locals call the hogback. And this morning, thousands of drivers used those seven miles as if nothing was happening. Commuters. Ranchers. Truckers running the shortcut between Denver and Laramie. Most of them have no idea they are driving on borrowed time.But here is the part that almost nobody behind those windshields knows. This corridor has died before. Not damaged. Not detoured. Abandoned completely, left to the wind and the cattle for nearly seventy years.LOCATIONS FROM THIS VIDEO:Virginia Dale historical marker (US 287 at County Road 43F): 40.95738, -105.35462Virginia Dale Stage Station (end of CR 43F, private property, tours by reservation): one mile east of the markerAbandoned Virginia Dale post office and cafe: on US 287 beside the marker areaOld alignment through Laporte (County Road 54G): 40.6264, -105.1428Ted's Place junction (US 287 / State Highway 14), south end of the condemned segment: 40.7936, -105.1953Condemned segment: US 287 between Ted's Place and Owl Canyon Road