By Lyndsie Ferrell
DEL NORTE— Rio Grande County Commissioners welcomed Rio Grande County Road and Bridge Director Patrick Sullivan to their meeting on Sept. 12 to hear updates on the department and recent work that has been completed.
Sullivan began with an update on Burnt Creek where a massive landslide occurred earlier this summer due to a large storm system that pushed through the area.
The road leading up to Jasper is within Rio Grande County and maintained by Sullivan’s department. When the landslide occurred at the end of July, residents in the area were blocked in when the creek overflowed and caused debris to close the road. Sullivan stated that throughout the last month, crews working to clear the road moved anywhere between 12,000 to 15,000 cubic yards of material in order to open the road.
“It was a lot of work and we worked really well with the residents that have summer cabins in the area. We also gave them some resources to look into to help maybe get the creek diverted so that this doesn’t happen again,” stated Sullivan. “This was a huge safety issue and needed to be finished quickly. I think overall we worked a total of nine days moving rocks and debris just to get water flowing through the creek again.”
Commissioner Karla Shriver spoke up and said that she had heard from summer residents from the area and that they were very thankful for the help. “I know they were very thankful for the county and the crews that took time out of their busy schedule to focus on the road and clearing out the creek.”
Sullivan continued to state that he provided the owners with other avenues that they could pursue that could potentially help them with drainage issues in the area. “I gave them Heather Dutton’s name with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. She may not be able to help them specifically, but I think she would at the very least be able to direct them to someone who could.”
“We were lucky on this one. There are several cabins and homes that were in immediate danger if another event would have occurred and I think it would be best if we keep that in mind and figure something out to get the drainage fixed in the area,” said Sullivan.