An 8.5-million-pound rock that fell from a ridge onto a Colorado highway won't be blasted to bits, but will be turned into a landmark, Gov. Jared Polis said. The rock will remain on Highway 145 between Cortez and Telluride, and the road will be rebuilt around it.

The boulder, which is the size of a two-story building, tumbled from a cliff 2,000 feet above the roadway, Colorado Department of Transportation officials said.

Another smaller boulder also smashed into the road, carving a deep trench across the highway. The smaller rock has been blasted, and its fragments were carried away.

