JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Changes are coming to one of the Front Range's most scenic roads.
Jefferson County officials will soon close Lookout Mountain Road at night. Jefferson County Open Space is making progress on new automated night-time gates that will close the road beginning Nov. 11.
Officials said the four-mile stretch of Lookout Mountain Road will be closed on the east side, up the road from Golden, at the Chimney Gulch Trail pullout. The west gate will be around Lookout Mountain Park, before the Buffalo Bill Museum.
When the night-time road closure was announced in January, Jefferson County officials said people have caused a list of problems on Lookout Mountain, leading the county to to close the road to cars at night.
“We find evidence of alcohol consumption. People are smoking cigarettes and throwing them, potentially causing fires,” said Mary Ann Bonnell, a Jeffco Open Space ranger and the department’s Director of Visitor Services and Natural Resources.
“People using marijuana, drugs. We find used condoms. Underpants and bras. We find copious amounts of fast-food trash – so people just throw trash over the edge,” she said. “I have to limit my time up there because once I get started, I could spend the rest of the day up there collecting nothing but bags of trash. It’s heartbreaking to see how people treat that mountain at night.”
It's also car crashes and fires at night, according to first responders.
“We’re seeing a lot of grass fires, trash can fires, a lot of fires off the road, illegal campfires,” said Lt. Mike Amdur with the Foothills Fire Protection District. “This is a very high-risk area for wildfires specifically. So it’s a very important area for us to respond quickly.”
“People ask us, ‘Why not patrol more?’ Because there’s a constant stream of new people coming in. If the sheriff’s office or Golden police clear an area, more people just fill in as soon as we clear,” Bonnell said. “So it’s a fool’s errand to try and clear people out. What we need is gates. And gates have been successful at other parks.”
The county held a meeting in December 2023 to gather feedback from stakeholders and the public, and plans to hold more throughout the winter months. Bonnell said there were questions from people who live along or near Lookout Mountain Road and use the roadway as a through-route when other roads, like Interstate 70, are closed.
Bonnell said there are no homes along Lookout Mountain Road that would have a single access point blocked by gates at the park property entrance.
Pedestrians and bicyclists will still have access to the road, even after the gates are added. Jeffco Open Space said it’s the people in vehicles causing the real problems.
“If people would just stay on the road, this would be cool. We wouldn’t need to do anything. But we have people parking and doing all kind of things,” Bonnell said.
"If people didn’t stop, it would be OK. If they were just doing the scenic drive and moving on, that would be OK. But that’s not what’s happening.”
Previous reporting from Jennifer Meckles contributed to this report.
