DENVER — A semi-truck barreled through a guardrail and wooden fence along Interstate 70 in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood Friday afternoon, narrowly missing a home at the corner of Clay Street. The crash left three people hospitalized, but for many in this community, the incident was a devastating yet unsurprising event.
“This isn’t the first time,” said Natasha Buhler, who moved to the neighborhood four years ago. “There’s obviously accidents happening along this stretch quite frequently.”
Over the past decade, neighbors have repeatedly urged the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to replace the deteriorating wooden fence separating their neighborhood from one of Colorado’s busiest highways.
Their complaints initially focused on noise pollution, but as cars began crashing through, leaving gaping holes, the issue evolved into one of safety.
“I’ve heard a lot of crashes where the cars screeching tires and then boom,” said David Hughes, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. “That happens quite often.”
A fence that’s been falling apart for years
Emails from residents to CDOT date back to at least 2013, when Sunnyside resident Jamie Runko described the wooden fence as inadequate:
“There is only a small fence separating the highway from the residents of Sunnyside,” Runko wrote in August 2013.
The fence, constructed in the 1990s, has been called “dilapidated” in correspondence between neighbors and city officials. Its condition has worsened over the years, with one of its many holes dating back to 2019, when another vehicle crashed through the same stretch.
After that crash, residents intensified their calls for a sturdier barrier.
“This wall is deteriorating, not effective, and is a serious safety issue,” Runko wrote in an email to the Denver mayor’s office in 2021.
Despite the urgency, CDOT cited funding limitations as the primary reason for delays.
Safety improvements on the way — but not soon enough
This year, CDOT began work on a new guardrail and sound wall along parts of I-70 to improve safety. However, construction has not yet reached the Sunnyside neighborhood.
“They’ve done the other side, on the north side of the highway, and they are proposed to do this side,” said Hughes. “It might be almost maybe six more months.”
The stretch where the crash occurred is slated for work beginning in March 2025. Neighbors, however, are frustrated that the improvements are taking so long to materialize.
“It should’ve already been done,” Hughes said.
Denver police are still investigating the cause of Friday’s crash. CDOT has not yet responded to requests for crash data for this section of I-70. The three people injured in the crash remain hospitalized, though their conditions are unclear.