Join CDOT July 31 for CO 72 Flood Repairs Public Meeting in Golden

GILPIN COUNTY—From 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 31, CDOT will host a public meeting about permanent flood repairs on Colorado Highway 72 (Coal Creek Canyon). CDOT will discuss the project's scope and potential travel impacts, and will provide the public the opportunity to ask questions, discuss concerns, and provide feedback.

Project Background

This section of CO 72 provides access from the west side of the Denver metro area through Coal Creek Canyon to Nederland. There are a number of private residences and businesses throughout the canyon, directly off the highway.

Intense rain in the mountain terrain of the Coal Creek watershed in 2013 carried large amounts of debris and sediment, which inundated the creek, the highway's roadside ditches and drainage structures. The creek's high flows eroded the highway embankments in several places, undermining and washing out the roadway itself.

Additionally, the large amount of debris blocked drainage structures, which caused overtopping floodwaters to damage pavement, ditches and embankments.

Emergency repairs were widespread along the corridor and consisted of large-scale debris removal, repairing and/or replacing damaged drainage structures, excavation and filing of damaged embankments, and removing and replacing asphalt sections.

Project Work

Now, crews on this project will repair this section of CO 72 and incorporate improvements to make the roadway more resilient.

Specific work includes:

• adding cross culverts under CO 72;
• repairing and replacing culverts to provide higher capacity;
• stabilizing slopes; and
• re-establishing native grass seed and erosion control to slopes that were disturbed during emergency work.

After analyzing the damage caused during the flood, the project team will incorporate certain design elements to prevent or reduce the magnitude of damage that significant floods can cause. Work could begin in winter 2018 and would be complete by fall 2020.