BYERS, Colo. — There was widespread road damage across eastern Colorado last year from heavy rain and flash flooding, and the damage is still being felt eight months later.
Denver International Airport saw 6.10 inches of rain in June, and there was 11.63 inches in May and June combined. Both measurements are the most all-time in the Denver record books, which go back 152 years.
In nearby Adams County, 36 roads were damaged, most of which happened in June, according to a county spokeswoman. She said since then, all have been repaired but two. One of those still in ruins is east Colfax Avenue between Strasburg and Byers.
“I knew a lot of damage was done, but I thought maybe by the end of summer or by the fall they would have some cleanup done and maybe make it at least passable,” said Byers resident Barb Broll.
That section of road is still in shambles and covered by about 7 feet of sand and debris from the bed of West Bijou Creek. It's a creek that Broll said runs dry except for storm runoff.
She said that if the damage was a little farther west, closer to the Denver metro area, it might have already been fixed.
“I’ve lived rural most of my life, and you do get lost in the shuffle, but I understand that dollars go to where the density of population is," she said. "But we pay taxes too, and it would be nice to have a road.”
An Adams County spokeswoman said the lack of heavy equipment on site doesn’t mean the county isn't working on the problem. She said they just completed the surveying and modeling phase, which suggested that a substantial upgrade and redesign might be in order to make sure the repair makes sense long-term.
Broll agreed that area has been prone to previous flooding, and she said she is concerned that changing climate extremes might make intense flooding more common in the future.
Adams County plans to have a public forum Mar. 21 at the Byers Library. Until public input is heard, and the project is finalized, a specific timeline for repair won't be possible, but the county did say last summer that repairs would likely take several years.
Broll wasn't pleased to hear about the expected length of repair and said she might be in favor of a quicker and less expensive option.
It isn't uncommon for repairs to flood-damaged road to last several years, especially if any type of bridge is involved. A few of the roads damaged in the 2013 Front Range floods took three to nine years to repair.
144th Avenue
The other Adams County road awaiting repair is 144th Avenue about 17 miles north of Bennett. The county spokeswoman said they've been working with their consultant to find innovative options to reduce the timeframe for bridge reconstruction.
Pre-bid estimates on the project are $700,000, and repairs will also take several years to complete.
Weld County
Roads in Weld County got hit hard in May. A spokeswoman there said that 28 roads, five bridges and 18 culverts were damaged. All those were repair by the end of fall with a total cost of $498,436.87.
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