Road repair: Progress made on temporary route connecting Estes Park and Loveland.
Traffic in downtown Drake was heavy Wednesday afternoon as giant excavators clawed dirt and rock from the gurgling Big Thompson River. Dump trucks hauled away huge shards of concrete that used to be U.S. 34.
But the town of Drake itself— maybe about 300 strong in the best of times— was virtually dead, shrouded in dried mud and muck that swept in on the historic September flood waters.
Heavy trucks rumbled through town every few seconds as crews from Kiewit Construction and the Colorado Department of Transportation hurried to meet a Dec. 1 deadline to reopen flood-ruined roads and highways— including 18 miles of U.S. 34 from Estes Park to Loveland.
The road has been closed to traffic since the flood. But construction managers saidWednesday they will meet the deadline— barring any huge weather problems— although the highway may not look like it did before.
“In some spots, the road will be lower and it will be narrower in others,” CDOT resident engineer Scott Ellis said.
Ellis said at least 160 people are working on the project, using 70 pieces of equipment, al- most around the clock.
The work is daunting. In some areas, the highway was completely swept away.
“The river was in places where the road should be,” Kiewit Construction Manager Will White said.
Crews are re-channeling the river in a few spots while using fill dirt and gravel— some reclaimed from the damaged road, some trucked in from Denver— to make the highway passable.
The 7-mile stretch of U.S. 34 between Estes Park and Drake is pockmarked with holes and large gaps. But crews at least have a foundation to work on, White said. “What we call minor damage in that area would have been considered major before the flood.”
Closer to Loveland, much of the highway is nothing but jagged edges of concrete. “Those last 2 miles will be the real challenge,” he said.
Furniture, propane tanks, wood from wrecked homes and concrete slabs top of debris piles along the highway shoulder.
The river’s power was awful but impressive, White said. I’ve never seen anything like this. The river tossed aside boulders and rock like it was nothing.”