Future of Southmoor Drive in Fountain remains uncertain nearly six years after partial closure
Scott Harrison
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) — On Tuesday night, the City Council decided to take no action, for the present, on whether to reopen a neighborhood street segment that has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council updated the status of Southmoor Drive, where authorities closed several blocks along the middle of the two-mile street in April of 2020.
An erosion threat led to the closure.
The closed segment is on a bluff high above a bend in Fountain Creek, and severe erosion from heavy creek flows caused by unusually wet weather brought the steep drop-off only a few feet from the west edge of the street.
Last summer, the Fountain Creek Watershed District (FCWD) spent $7 million on a mitigation project to widen the creek banks, dissipate the force of heavy flows, and prevent the street from literally collapsing into the creek.
Now, there are mixed opinions among city leaders on whether the street is safe to reopen.
Todd Evans, deputy city manager for Fountain, advised caution.
“Those 100-year storms we had a few years ago — we had two, back-to-back — and even (with) those, (mitigation) may last through those, and then one gets (hit again) five years from now,” he said. “So, there’s really no engineering specs they can put to it, that say that this is absolutely, 100% guaranteed to work.”
Yet several neighbors who attended the Council meeting want the street reopened as soon as possible.
“I would like to see the road opened, due to the fact (of) easy access to all the businesses on the back side of Southmoor — because right now, we don’t have access,” said Gerald Whitten. “If I want to go to Walmart, I have to get on Highway 85/87 and fight the traffic.”
The American Legion Post 36 is located near the street closure.
“People come looking for The American Legion, they get on Waze, and it says to go down the north side of that way coming there,” said John Langley, a post commander. “And then they get there, and then it’s blocked off.”
The Council decided to revisit the issue at its late February meeting after first consulting with a citizens’ roadway group.
Evans said that the biggest obstacle to reopening the street is the high cost — emphasizing that some repair options, such as repaving the street and installing guardrails along its western edge, would equal or exceed the city’s entire annual street maintenance budget.
“We also have to consider liability issues and other street priorities that we have,” he said.
To improve safety and traffic flow for drivers detouring at the south end of the closure, officials made changes to the intersection of Carson Boulevard and Highway 85/87 in 2004.
The changes included installing traffic signals and creating protected left turns to reduce crashes.