(CUSTER COUNTY, Colo.) — A father-son duo at the helm of Langston Concrete in Florence had quite the start to 2025 after their company was asked to assist with a large rockslide cleanup along a major highway in Custer County.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, the rockslide occurred in the area of McKenzie Junction, at the intersection of Highway 96 and Highway 165, and closed the area for several days as crews from across Colorado teamed up to clean up.

FOX21 News spoke with Mike and Zac Langston on Wednesday, Jan. 8 about the rockslide cleanup and efforts from their crews to get the area reopened.

Courtesy: Zac (right) and Mike Langston (Left) of Langston Concrete speak to FOX21 News on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Locally-owned Langston Concrete has been part of Southern Colorado since 1991, getting its start in the Westcliffe Valley doing custom home foundations for residential projects. It then expanded into the general construction industry in 2007 and now owns and operates its own fleet of trucks and equipment.

Langston Concrete also owns a concrete batch plant and gravel pit, which came into play during the rockslide cleanup. The company also derives its workforce from surrounding areas including Cañon City, Florence, Westcliffe, and Pueblo.

According to Mike, when he got the call from Rockfall Mitigation to assist with the rockslide cleanup, he knew it was going to be a big job. “When they said the highway was closed, I figured it was a pretty big mess,” said Mike Langston, Owner of Langston Concrete.

Mike said Langston Concrete officially began the cleanup process on Tuesday, Dec. 31, and with it being the holidays, several of its employees were called in to help. “Everyone pulled up and came through for it,” said Zac Langston, Corporate Secretary of Langston Concrete.

In photos shared with FOX21, crews with Rockfall Mitigation can be seen scaling the area on ropes, helping to knock the rocks down so Langston Concrete could be sure its crews loaded up and cleared all the debris.

Courtesy: Mike Langston

Courtesy: Mike Langston

“Rockslides aren’t really normal in our area, so just being able to collaborate with as many people as we were able to as quickly as we were able to, was cool,” Zac said. “Especially on a holiday,” Mike added.

On the first day, Langston Concrete brought in two loaders, an excavator with a hammer, and 17 trucks to begin the clearing process, but soon found out, they’d need several more resources.

The next few days, they doubled up their efforts and brought in 30 trucks to assist. In total, each day, up to 40 employees from Langston Concrete answered the call for help. “Coming up with that many trucks in that area is certainly a task in itself,” Zac said.

Over three and a half days, 16,950 tons of debris were hauled out of the area. “We brought it all down to our [gravel pit] here in Florence and we had space for it here,” Zac added.

Coupled with the area being tough to access for trucks, the Langstons thanked crews with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for their help with traffic control. “It would have taken significantly longer had a different approach been done,” said Zac.

“CDOT did a fantastic job,” Mike added. “And the Custer County Sheriff guys came by asking if we needed anything quite often, so everything went really well.”

The Langstons said this was the first rockslide the company has responded to and made a nod to the tremendous amount of teamwork to get it cleared.

“Seamless is a good word,” Zac said. “Especially considering the limited communication at the site, without having cell phone service up there.”

Being a local company, the Langstons knew how much it would mean to their community to get the highway back open.

“Especially coming from Westcliffe and having spent so much time up there growing up and living there… getting in and out of the valley is certainly big… so we definitely understand the need to get up and down the hill and that being a main corridor to Pueblo and Colorado Springs,” Zac said.

Mike said he continues to be proud of the work the company and its employees have done to help Southern Colorado. “This is how we work right here, we pretty much hit the ground running when we show up [and] if we can keep on moving, we darn sure will,” he said.

In 2015, Langston Concrete was also nationally recognized by the World of Concrete for its work after the devastating wildfire at the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park in 2013.

“We got a good bunch of guys that work for us and we love to work, I think that pretty much tells the story to the people that know us,” Mike added.