Friday at 11 a.m. in Georgetown, Glenda Guanella and Sally Guanella Buckland will help cut the ribbon on one of Colorado’s most scenic mountain passes, which bears their father’s name.
The ceremonial reopening of Guanella Pass Scenic and Historic Byway will be in Georgetown’s historic district at Sixth and Rose streets to celebrate the conclusion of a $60 million project to improve the road from Georgetown to the 11,670-foot summit.
The work included retaining walls, drainage improvements and new grading and resurfacing on 6.4 miles of the pass. The work improved the condition of the road, while lessening environmental impacts and risks of flooding and mudslides in Georgetown. It also improved landscaping, signs and access to trails in the area.
Guanella Pass, 40 miles southwest of Denver, was disignated a state scenic and historic byway in 1990 and a national scenic byway in 1991.
The pass is named for the late Byron Guanella, who was a road supervisor and Clear Creek county commissioner for nearly half a century and oversaw construction to the summit and other improvements to the 24-mile route between Georgetown and U.S. Highway 285 in Grant.
Guanella died in 1984.
A U.S. Forest Service on the route.
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