The winner: Judy Miller of Grand Junction:
When I saw the bench at a rest stop in Glenwood Canyon, it reminded me that our daughter was just born when they started the reconstruction of that beautiful highway through the canyon and she was 18 when it was finished. With all the years of construction, and the car and truck wrecks, boulders falling from the walls of the canyon, mudslides, wildlife jumping onto the highway, icy conditions, and strange acts of God that have happened in that location, this is definitely an appropriate place to remember the dedicated workers who have put themselves at risk so we have a safe and beautiful drive between the western slope and the front range. Bless them all!
Susan Wild, Littleton: This bench is located at the No Name rest stop in Glenwood Canyon along I-70, exit 119. We stop there several times a year as we travel back and forth to Utah to visit our children and grandchildren. This memorial also includes plaques with the names of those who lost their lives while working for C-DOT. This is a peaceful, beautiful location and is open year round.
Roy Miller: The picture is of a stone bench at the west rest area stop in the Glenwood Springs Canyon on I-70. It is a good memorial for those CDOT workers who are killed while working on our highways. There are bricks of workers with their names in front of the bench. The ones I can remember seem to be from the towns in the area and west of Glenwood Springs, like Rifle, Parachute, New Castle.
Elaine & Ernie Dunn, Georgetown: We remember seeing this bench at one of the rest stops in Glenwood Canyon. We take a couple of trips a year to enjoy the hot springs and afterwards we like to enjoy the Glenwood Canyon. On our recent trip, we paused at this bench, and thought it was one of the nicest Memorial benches we have ever seen. ,
Rik and Deb, Denver: We saw the picture of the CDOT memorial bench and recalled stopping at Grizzly Creek on our annual pilgrimage to Moab. Every year, we hop in the Jag and drive to Moab, through Glenwood Canyon and totally by accident, we stopped at Grizzly Creek to rest on the day they were dedicating the bench. It is not something we will soon forget. Now we make it a point to stop there.
Oscar Olivivas, Whitewater: The Colorado Department of Transportation unveiled this and a few other such monuments around the state last April in commemoration of CDOT workers who have died in the line of duty over the years. This stone bench allows passers-by a spot to sit and reflect — and a reminder to reflect on the very-real hazards of work on Colorado’s highways. My uncle drove a snowplow on Red Mountain Pass and had two close friends die in avalanches while maintaining that road.
Walter Hoessle, Evergreen: The location of the memorial bench is No Name rest area along I-70 near Glenwood Springs.
