SANTA FE DRIVE REROUTED OVER NEW BRIDGE

Southbound Santa Fe Drive was rerouted early Friday over the newly completed bridge spanning the South Platte River.

The switch means southbound travelers on Santa Fe will be unable to access southbound Interstate 25 at that spot for a few months, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Northbound drivers on Santa Fe Drive will still be able to access the southbound I- 25 entrance while the old southbound bridge over the river is demolished, CDOT said. Demolition is expected to be completed by March.

At that time, access to southbound I- 25 will be closed to northbound drivers on Santa Fe Drive and remain inaccessible until the summer.

CDOT said the new interchange, which it calls a “single- point urban interchange” and allows for simultaneous left- hand turns, is similar to ones built at Santa Fe Drive and Evans Avenue, and at University Boulevard and I- 25.

24- year sentence in drunken high- speed chase. A Douglas County

judge Friday sentenced a Falcon man to 24 years in prison for leading authorities on a high- speed chase while driving drunk.

During the pursuit on Interstate 25 in February, 42- year- old Garrett Dean Neugebauer struck several vehicles, leaving two men injured.

Authorities say Neugebauer had a blood alcohol content of .269, more than three times the legal driving limit in Colorado of .08. At the time of the chase, Neugebauer had been convicted of three prior alcohol- linked offenses and was wanted in Otero County.

The 18th Judicial District prosecutors sayNeugebauer was leaving the Denver area in a Dodge pickup truck that belonged to his boss after having dinner and drinks when a motorist reported seeing him drive erratically.

When Douglas County deputies tried to stop him, Neugebauer fled onto southbound I- 25, cutting and swerving in and out of traffic while driving more than 100 mph.

He struck several vehicles before deputies deployed stop sticks, which blew out one of Neugebauer’s tires. Sparks from the tire ignited a blaze the size of about two football fields. Neugebauer finally pulled into a parking lot where he was arrested.

In October, Neugebauer was found guilty of several charges, including two counts of first- degree assault, vehicular eluding and driving under the influence with one prior conviction.

Firm paid $ 100,000 to cut down eagle nest B »

erie Property owner Section 4 Investors paid $ 100,000 to the U. S. Fish andWildlife Service to cut down a cottonwood tree with a bald eagle’s nest near the intersection ofWeld County 7 south of Colorado 52 in Erie.

Neighbor Jack Daniels told the Daily Camera said the amount seems like too small of a price to pay to displace an American icon.

Daniels said he’s upset that, more than a month later, two or three bald eagles still fly around his house but do not appear to have built a new nest. The eagles drink from a water tank Daniels has for his animals, he said. Daniels used to see as many as five bald eagles around the nest before the tree was cut down late last year.