San Juan National Forest to Reconstruct Cottonwood Road; June 8-19 Closures

Motorists, ranchers and recreation users who rely on Cottonwood Road should expect major reconstruction on about 7.57 miles of Forest Service Road 532 on the Dolores Ranger District, the San Juan National Forest announced in a Feb. 23, 2026 project release. The Forest Service’s project description lists road reconstruction and resurfacing, cattleguard replacement, replacement of a bridge, and widening across the stretch identified for management activities.

The agency’s planning documents also specify local aggregate logistics tied to the Cottonwood work. The Forest Service text states: “Rentry into the existing Gordon Creek gravel pit and reentry and potential expansion of the Chub Draw gravel pit to provide a local supply of aggregate material in order to rehabilitate road surfaces, campgrounds, picnic areas, and trailhead parking.” Those pits, if reopened or expanded, would support not only NFSR 532 but nearby campground and trailhead repairs referenced in the same passage.

The project release lays out a summer 2026 implementation window, though the release text is truncated at that point and the precise start dates in the Forest Service excerpt remain incomplete. A June 8–19, 2026 closure range appears in planning summaries supplied to this newsroom, but those specific closure dates are not present in the Forest Service excerpts reviewed here and therefore remain unverified pending full release text or Dolores Ranger District confirmation.

Planning materials for the San Juan National Forest that list the Cottonwood Road work also include several other discrete road projects on the forest. The Piedra Road entry proposes a re-route of 4/10 of a mile approximately 1 mile north of the McManus Road/Piedra Road intersection. The Polito Canyon item proposes to reconstruct 0.7 miles of Road 649A from native surface to gravel surface to provide for year round access. Each of those distances is explicitly noted in the Forest Service extract of project entries.

The federal stewardship model used elsewhere on the San Juan National Forest appears in adjacent documents and may offer contracting context. A National Wild Turkey Federation request for proposals for the First Notch Road Reconstruction Stewardship Project on the Columbine Ranger District covers 1.45 miles of NFSR 620 east of Bayfield and schedules a mandatory pre-bid meeting and site visit for Tuesday June 24 at 9 AM MST at mile post 0.4 on NFSR 620. That NWTF RFP includes bond or irrevocable letter of credit requirements and contractor qualifications for remote Forest Service road work, though the NWTF project is on a different ranger district and is not identified as part of the Cottonwood Road contract.

Several other San Juan National Forest planning entries appear alongside Cottonwood Road in the same packet, including Red Mountain Ditch reconstruction, outfitter and guide permit renewals on the Pagosa Ranger District for Backcountry Outfitters, Majestic Outfitters and Saddle-Up Outfitters, a Tri-State Telluride to Burro Bridge 115 Kv powerline special use, and the Rico Trails Alliance proposal to construct a trail connecting the Town of Rico to the existing Rio Grande Southern Trail, with easements secured.

Key outstanding items for the Cottonwood Road project remain confirmation of closure dates and the full summer 2026 schedule, details on which bridge and how many cattleguards will be replaced, haul routes and hours for Gordon Creek and Chub Draw gravel operations, and the NEPA or permitting documents that authorize pit reentry or expansion. The Dolores Ranger District and San Juan National Forest are listed as the responsible entities in the Feb. 23 project release; further technical and scheduling details are expected in the complete project announcement and subsequent public notices.