AURORA | Aurora’s City Council on Monday demanded the state take action to accelerate repairs to an uneven segment of Interstate 225 where multiple speeding drivers and their passengers have crashed and died since last year.
Councilmember Steve Sundberg said a “bump” on northbound I-225 near Alameda Avenue has been the site of no fewer than seven traffic deaths over the past nine months.
Since last summer, Aurora police have reported multiple fatal, high-speed crashes on the freeway near the Alameda overpass, the most recent of which flung five teenagers from a stolen vehicle, killing one.
“People are dying, and it’s teenagers who are the majority of the deaths,” said Sundberg, who along with Mayor Mike Coffman sponsored the resolution demanding that Colorado’s Department of Transportation fix the state highway.
While Sundberg said CDOT plans to complete a study over the summer and award a contract next year to make improvements, he said the timeline isn’t aggressive enough.
“We implore the public to drive safely, but we implore CDOT to shift gears, and put the pedal to the metal, and get this project fixed,” Sundberg said. “You can see marks and scrapes on the concrete barriers (from) years ago and debris from vehicles that have crashed.”
CDOT spokeswoman Tamara Rollison wrote in an email that the agency “takes all crashes and fatalities seriously” and was “saddened by this recent incident involving young Coloradans.”
She said the state examines crash data to plan future projects and works with law enforcement to educate drivers and discourage dangerous behavior on the road.
“Regarding I-225, a design project is underway to enhance the safety of the bridges at (Second) and (Sixth) avenues,” she said. “These structures are safe to drive on as long as safe driving practices are followed which we encourage all drivers to follow.”
Deputy city manager Laura Perry told the council Monday that agency representatives “understand the severity of the current circumstance” and that CDOT hopes to begin work on the roadway next year. However, she said the city is also working with the agency to identify ways to reduce the frequency of crashes in the interim.
“We do owe it to everyone in our community to provide safety and to try to do what we can to avoid these things continuing,” Councilmember Alison Coombs said.
Coombs joined the rest of the council in support of the resolution, which passed unanimously.
Why exactly does this need a “study”?”? It’s a bump…in a road. Put it out for bids and let it be fixed. Someties government needs to get out of its own way.
Here they go again. The Aurora City Council wasting city time and money desperately trying to protect their buddies at the Aurora PD. The APD has known about this issue for years. It’s well documented that all of the fatal accidents at this location have been caused by excessive speed. Where have the police been all these years? So instead of “demanding” that CDOT fix the road why don’t you blame the police (as you should) and “demand” that they do their job and regularly monitor that area for speeding? It’s absolutely sickening that Jurinsky and Sundberg have made covering up for the police such a priority over helping and protecting the citizens of Aurora.
Or, the state could do its job of properly maintaining non-city infrastructure. But I realize that would mean one less thing for you to spazz out about regarding the police or City Council.
Your solution is for police to “randomly monitor” an area and miraculously catch excessive teen speeders before they launch themselves airborne? How many man-hours would that require? When the police are still trying to rebuild their ranks from the damage of BLM and the Defund the Police movement? Fix the highway, fix the problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOjdy0K3X7s
Though we often use I-225 northbound, apparentlyvhenot speeding we do not experience the hump and therefore know nothing of it.
How does one get flung out of a car with seat-belts on?
The only “bump” experienced is northbound I-225 where the bridge over East Iliff Avenuends.
We know and have known I-225 in Aurora is a troubled highway. The last deadly crash on 225 early Saturday morning the car had been stolen and hit the “bump”. That crash created a major NB 225 shut down, just one of many. And now we get to this. A problematic bump in the concrete a faulty engineering and construction defect a killer flaw and just a fluke, that coincidentally Aurora police and CDOT just talk about it. Now we are going to partake in a study. We will contract the study out, that will at some point produce the ultimate fix. That will pave the way so it can be outsourced for bids to a concrete contractor.
It’s most reassuring though to hear that Mayor Coffman is “demanding Colorado’s Department of Transportation fix the state highway” that’ll make’em nervous and get them working soon.
We’re going to see lawsuits aimed at Aurora and CDOT for their negligence before the road gets fixed.
The issue is not state of the roadway, it’s the way people drive. If you drive the speed limit, or even 10 above, and are paying attention to your driving (and not your phone), the highway is plenty safe. The issue is that the state will hand out a driver’s license to anything that can convert oxygen to carbon-dioxide with little to no evidence that said thing can actually operate a motor vehicle. Yes, the police should help with enforcement, but guess what, Aurora is sorely lacking in resources at the police department. Therefore, with little to no enforcement, people are driving like idiots because they can. We see it all over the city, state, and the country. Darwin awards can be handed out like Halloween candy!
Kids drive fast for entertainment and the stimulation of approaching the ragged edge between boredom and death. Refinishing that stretch of road with coarse tire-busting pit-run rock and putting a couple of tight off-camber turns in it might slow them right down. One major city I drive through decided to punish the drivers with some axle-breaking speed bumps in a posh residential area. One disgruntled metals salvage scrapper now traverses those stretches with a load of loose sheet metal in his truck with his air horns blasting at 3:00 AM. Fixing the road is a better idea. Sad for them, it’s their job.
I haven’t driven on 225, 25 or 70 in the last 20 years or so and in the last 10 years I avoid driving in the Denver metro area at all. Must be hell for those that drive for a living and get my goods to me every day. Truckers and delivery people are #1 on my list. Highly under rated profession.
Stolen cars, excessive speeds, unlicensed drivers, uninsured drivers, alcohol consumption, and distracted drivers…but sure…blame the bump in the road rather than the illegal activities of your sons and daughters.
Agree 👍 tell your brats to follow the laws.