A huge rock on the Colorado Highway will be allowed to stay

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The rock the size of a house that blocks a Colorado highway for two weeks will not explode after all.

The governor says that he will be given a name and that the road will be deviated all around.

Jared Polis announced Tuesday that his administration had chosen not to destroy the 8.5 million pound rock on Highway 145 linking Cortez and Telluride.

"We hope that future generations will be able to see this geological masterpiece we call Memorial Rock," Polis said at a press conference.

The name was probably chosen because the rock fell on the road at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend.

Polis said the decision will save taxpayers about $ 200,000.

Even without the demolition, repairs are expected to cost about $ 1.3 million, part of which will be funded by federal emergency funds, he said.

Rocks, earth and two giant rocks destroyed the entire width of the road during a landslide on May 24, leaving a trench 8 feet long on both lanes and making the stretch impassable. Nobody was hurt.

The smaller rock, weighing 2.3 million pounds, was blasted on 27 May. This has reopened a road lane, with portable traffic lights to allow alternate use.

Highway 145 is on the western slope of the Rockies in the southwest corner of the state.

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