A $13.9 million reconstruction project along a 7-mile stretch on U.S. 287 just south of Springfield is set to begin this week, the Pueblo Chieftain reports.

The highway upgrade was selected last winter as one of the Southern Colorado region’s federal highway stimulus projects. It is a continuation of U.S. 287 upgrades ongoing as part of the Ports-to-Plains highway corridor improvements to better link the plain states to markets in Mexico and Canada.

U.S. 287 – a key segment on the Ports-to-Plains corridor – runs from Limon (and Interstate 70) down the state’s eastern plains to Kit Carson, Lamar, Springfield and then to the Oklahoma panhandle and Amarillo, Texas.

To date, the state Department of Transportation has reconstructed 11 segments of U.S. 287 through Southeastern Colorado, most recently a 13-mile section just south of Lamar in Prowers County.

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