San Juan Regional Cancer Center Reopens

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  New traffic patterns are coming to the US Highway 550, US Highway 160 interchange. Two new northbound lanes for US Highway 550 are completed. And beginning October 7th, traffic will be redirected on the new lanes as construction on southbound lanes begins. The project which is slated to be completed in fall 2023, is the first full interchange in the region. San Juan Regional Cancer Center reopens with new and improved technology, which will enable the center to treat cancer patients at the facility instead of sending them elsewhere. You’re watching the local news Roundup. Brought to you by The Big Idea Makerspace, at San Juan College and Northern Edge Casino. I’m Hailey Upsell. C DOT and Lawrence Construction announced the completion of two new northbound lanes on US Highway 550 from County Road 302 at the top of Farmington Hill, south of Durango. Both north and southbound traffic was switched over to the new lanes from the shoo-fly detour next to the County Road 220, and US Highway 550 intersection. A shoo-fly detour is a temporary detour, often constructed to allow traffic to continue around a project, enabling the construction project to happen all at once. North and southbound traffic on US Highway 550 will use the new lanes in addition, to the 1400 foot detour to enable continuous flow of traffic, for the rest of the project. Construction on two southbound lanes will begin after the traffic transfer. The US 550 and US 160 interchange project will be the first interchange project in the region. Construction on the interchange project began in 2020, and is expected to be completed by fall 2023. The speed limit through the construction area will remain at 40 miles per hour and drivers are asked to follow the speed limit for their safety and others until the project is finished. To find more information on the project, visit codot.gov/projects and search US 550 US 160 connection south. For information about travel impact updates, visit cotrip.org. San Juan Regional Cancer Center has reopened with new technology to enable treatments here in San Juan County. The new improvements include, a 5 million dollar investment and new machines and technology bringing advanced treatment practices to San Juan County. The investment includes a new CT scanner that is linked to a linear accelerator, the radiation therapy machine. The two machines work together, the CT scanner identifying and pinpointing the location of a tumor, which is sends to the linear accelerator for precise radiation treatment of the tumor. Before we would have to send some of our patients to Mayo for treatment. “Technology has come such a long way, that now we are going to have this in San Juan County” said Troy Fuhman, the director of San Juan Regional Cancer Center, in a news release. San Juan Regional Cancer Center is accepting patients and appointments, now that it has reopened. For more information about the cancer center, visit sanjuanregional.com/ourservices/cancer. That’s it for this week’s local news roundup. I’m Haley upsell.

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