Erosion, drainage concerns expressed along Highway 105 in Palmer Lake
Scott Harrison
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Along the three-mile stretch of Highway 105 between Monument and Palmer Lake, you’ll find many places where drainage has significantly eroded the shoulders or the ground on the roadside.
The worst example, however, appears to be at the Highway 105/South Valley Road intersection in Palmer Lake, in front of a duplex maintained by Rick Rank.
Rank contacted KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior about the situation that he said began in the spring of 2023.
“I had reported up the road (about) the property or next to the property (where) runoff during rains was undermining the road,” he recalled. “CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) came out and dumped crumbled asphalt in there, which they said would solve that problem. But it only diverted the water and mud onto the property here.”
Rank said that the redirected flow of water and mud clogged an underground drainage pipe and has gradually led to erosion, creating a chasm ten feet long and four feet deep.
He said that he last heard from CDOT about the matter this summer, when he was told the agency was waiting on a machine part to fix the problem — but nothing has happened since.
“My big concern is the school bus turns here,” Rank said. “If it should skid on the ice, even if it’s full of snow, and the back wheel goes down in there, you’re going to have a school bus lying on its side.”
Rank has created a makeshift barricade around the chasm to help drivers see it better, especially at night.
Recent dry weather has kept the eroded area stable, but this is likely to change with any significant rainfall or runoff.
CDOT told The Road Warrior that it’s investigating the situation.