Private rural community in Teller County facing road maintenance challenges
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Dan Silvis has lived in Tranquil Acres since 1994, but he’s not feeling tranquil about the lack of road maintenance in the private community of approximately 250 residents.
Silvis is particularly concerned about the condition of Fern Road, where he lives; like all roads in Tranquil Acres, it’s a gravel road that’s hilly, bumpy, rutted, and significantly eroded on one side.
He said that the Tranquil Acres Water Board recently installed water lines under the road, and that two of his neighbors have used equipment to dig into the road over the past few years.
Since that digging began, Silvis said that the road is narrower and lower, and could expose the new water lines to damage and potentially interrupt water service to customers.
He explained that the two neighbors are part-time residents who live in a home across the road from him, and that the digging is an attempt to redirect runoff from the road so that it drains around their home.
Silvis said that he has tried to ask the neighbors to stop digging, but they have refused to.
The neighbors weren’t at home when KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior stopped by on Thursday.
Silvis said that Teller County previously provided road maintenance on the main road through the community — Blossom Road — but stopped doing it several years ago because it’s on private property, and because most roads in the community don’t meet county specifications to be maintained.
He believes the water board is responsible for maintenance.
However, a board member told The Road Warrior that’s not the case.
As of this writing, it’s unclear who — if anyone — has road maintenance responsibilities.
Silvis said that a few residents already plow the roads in front of their homes or pay a contractor to do it, and he fears that could become more common until the road maintenance dilemma is resolved.
“And up here in Teller County, we can get some pretty deep snow,” he added.
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