A road improvement plan at Pleasant View has received a boost in funding.

The Department of Local Affairs has awarded Montezuma County a $298,600 grant to help pay for a chip-seal paving project on County Roads CC and 10. The county matched the grant with $300,000 worth of labor.

When completed this summer, the project will have paved 5.5 miles of Road CC west from U.S. Highway 491, to the intersection of Road 10.

Road 10 between Road CC and Road BB will also be chip-sealed, making the route to the Hovenweep National Monument Visitors Center and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument completely paved.

“It provides tourists paved access to those sites and redirects them from the problematic Road BB intersection to Road CC,” said Rob Englehart, county road manager.

The National Park Service is planning on moving signs directing visitors accessing the monuments from the Road BB intersection with U.S. 491 to the safer Road CC intersection.

Energy company Kinder Morgan paid $1.5 million to pave Road CC for the first 4.2 miles, which is a main truck route for their carbon-dioxide well and pipeline operations. That portion of the paving project is nearly complete.