SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — Days before the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) shut down a portion of Interstate 70 near the Loveland Ski Area to repair potholes, a driver said he was in a crash due to the road conditions.
On March 2, Thomas Kuemmel, who lives in Las Vegas, said he was on his way to visit his brother in Colorado Springs with his fiancé Leslie Brock, and their dog. While driving eastbound on I-70, he said he hit multiple massive pot holes near mile marker 216.
He said this caused the trailer he was towing to jerk forward, pulling on his truck and leading him to lose control.
Craig Zofchak, who was driving behind Kuemmel at the time, captured the crash on his dashcam.
While Kuemmel, Brock and the pup were not physically injured in the crash, it caused significant damage to his truck and trailer. Damage Kuemmel said he's afraid he will be responsible for, even though the crash was not his fault.
Driver says potholes caused crash on I-70
On Saturday, two days after Kuemmel's crash, eastbound I-70 was closed for hours to repair multiple potholes.
Tamara Rollison, a CDOT spokeswoman, said in a statement that the problem started a little before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, when work crews started diverting eastbound traffic at the exit for Loveland Pass because the pothole had opened in the highway. That traffic was forced to leave the highway just east of the tunnel, then re-enter the highway east of the Loveland Ski Area.
There is a claim form that drivers can fill out online to seek repayment by the state for a crash they believe was the fault of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
"You'd have to prove liability on the part of the state," said Doug Platt, spokesman for the state's risk management office in March.
Be warned, it is a difficult bar to reach.
In 2021, the state received 140 claims by drivers who wanted the state to cover damage as a result of potholes on state highways. The state paid zero of those claims.
That is because for the state (or city) to be considered liable, the pothole would have to be known, reported and not fixed.
Kuemmel said he was cited by Colorado State Patrol for careless driving. He said he was going the speed limit in the far right lane of the highway before the crash.
9NEWS has reached out the Colorado Department of Transportation about fault in this crash and has yet to hear back as of Friday at 6 p.m.
Marshall Zelinger contributed to this report.
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