Ray K. Erku / Post Independent
Rifle’s traffic congestion woes are likely to continue as the city recently agreed to extend the closure of Hospital Hill Road into summer.
During an April 21 board meeting, FCI Constructors Inc, hired by Grand River Health to construct the new Grand River Care Center, notified the city that construction won’t be finished until August.
Hospital Hill Road, which extends from Ash Avenue to U.S. Highway 6 at the south of the facility, was closed to traffic in 2018 when the project broke ground. Hospital Hill Road would be realigned, and the city contributed $250,000 to the roadway.
Garfield County residents are “encouraged,” but not mandated, to continue wearing masks indoors and follow other health-safety practices to keep the spread of COVID-19 in check.
Beyond that, though, the county is essentially reopened to pre-pandemic levels in all but a few sectors still governed by state public health rules.
The exception is within Glenwood Springs city limits, where City Council last week extended its ordinance requiring masks to be worn indoors, at least through May 20.
Also, if a county’s one-week incidence rate exceeds 35 per 100,000 people, face coverings continue to be required indoors if there are 10 or more people present who are unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown, County Attorney Tari Williams noted, pointing to the latest state public health orders.
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The roundabout at the Colorado Highway 13 exit off Interstate 70 in Rifle was partly blocked off to traffic for about an hour following a single-car crash Friday night.
Around 8:17 p.m., the driver of a 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon was traveling eastbound on I-70 when he struck a road sign while heading toward an off-ramp, said Rifle Police Chief Tommy Klein.
Klein said the driver then circled the roundabout in the wrong direction before leaving the roadway.
A rolled over vehicle in Rifle on Friday night.
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The vehicle rolled over before coming to a complete stop.
The driver, who was the lone occupant of the vehicle, was taken by ambulance to the nearby Grand River Health hospital. His condition is currently unknown, Klein said.
The local Valley Health Alliance is a valuable player in bringing open market health insurance costs down in the Roaring Fork Valley and Garfield County.
But a second, member-based alliance that county commissioners have been wooing for the past two years could punch those costs down even further.
That was the pitch from Claire Brockbank, CEO of Summit County-based Peak Health Alliance, during an online community forum hosted by the Garfield County commissioners Monday evening.
Garfield County has been working with Peak to potentially bring its negotiated-pricing approach to the county, working with health care providers and insurers on an agreed fee schedule and insurance rates.