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| Pictured: design view of the location of the Shirttail Point parking lot. |
On July 6, Mesa County Commissioners signed a $186,937.80 agreement with K & D Construction, Inc. for the construction of the Palisade Plunge Phase 2—Shirttail Point Parking Lot Project. The contractor must complete all work within 20 working days.
The project includes the construction of a 35,350 square foot gravel parking lot and installation of a CTX precast vault toilet on U.S. Forest Service land at Shirttail Point, which is located off of National Forest System Road (NFSR) 100 near the Lands End observatory point.
The project supports the Palisade Plunge Trail Phase 2, which is funded by the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) grant received by Mesa County.
The Palisade Plunge Trail Phase 2 includes 14.73 miles of trail construction from route milepost (MP) 0.00 (existing parking lot off Highway 65) to MP 14.73 (Lands End Road on the side of the Grand Mesa). The majority of the trail for 11.7 miles traverses the relatively flat top of the Grand Mesa with numerous small creek crossings and boulder fields until Shirttail Point. The remaining three miles coming off the top of the Mesa down to Lands End Road crosses through remote and rough terrain, with a wide variation of foliage, surface and soil types, grade, and substantial exposure. Included within this route is the Otto Wall section requiring the creation of considerable rockwork features to reconstruct portions of the historic Otto Trail that has been damaged by rock slides. In addition to the trail construction, project tasks will include the placement of various signage elements, fence ride-over features, fence installation, and gate installations.