Water fed by recent rain and heavy runoff is cascading over Highway 9 on in Blue River, but Colorado Department of Transportation officials say they won't be able to address the problem until water levels recede.
The flooding over the highway is approximately an inch deep during the day and rises to up to 4 inches at night, according to CDOT officials who say the problem is likely caused by blocked culverts that normally allow the water to pass beneath the road.
“There's nothing we can do right now,” CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson said Wednesday. “It's low enough that we can keep the road open, but until the water level goes down we can't get in on those pipes.”
But, for Blue River residents and officials, a wait-and-see approach isn't comforting.
“It sort of cuts our town in two, because it's the only route to the southernmost part of Blue River,” town roads manager Nick Doperalski said.
Officials are concerned the situation might turn into another Coyne Valley Road, wiping out the roadway completely and forcing residents south of the break to find what will inevitably be a much longer route around the problem.
Mayor Lindsay Backas said at a town board meeting this week that CDOT would recommend people travel all the way down to Buena Vista to circumnavigate a closure on Hwy 9, but acknowledged that most people would actually use the Boreas Pass route, which is considerably shorter.
“Everybody's initial fear was that it was going to wash away like Coyne Valley, but CDOT said they were going to be watching it,” Backas said. “If the road holds they (said they) probably wouldn't do anything this year, because it's really not in their budget. It's a little scary, I think, for people that go through there, but it seems to be safe.”
Repairs of any kind will likely cause the road to be closed for some period of time, forcing drivers to take much longer routes around the problem, according to Backas. She said fixing the culverts, which appear to be blocked, would take several hours, while repairing the road should it wash away could take more than a week.
In the long term, Blue River is considering constructing alternative routes to the south end of town around the highway, but those plans are at least a few years out, officials said.
“In our long-term planning, we're looking at a second or even third alternative route where we can connect our roads around the highway,” Doperalski said. “But that's a long time out, and we're looking at budget constraints as well.”
For now, drivers in the area are encouraged to use extreme caution and to cross the submerged stretch of highway very slowly.
