Latest car crash along dangerous Colorado curve prompts new push for change
Several drivers in recent years have crashed into or through a fence along a 6th Avenue frontage road in Lakewood, and concerns about safety in that small section of the Denver metro area are growing.
Each crash case had different circumstances -- speed, distraction, drunk driving -- but all had the same outcome (property and vehicle damage) and one constant: the curve. It's located right where 6th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard meet.
Mike Ard is the owner Off-Site Garages at that very spot. This month he's working on repairing his metal fence. It's the sixth time he's had to do so in the last three years. He said the damage on his property is only a small representation of all the damage the stretch of roadway has caused.
"I mean, it's going to happen again," he said. "(With) most of these type of tragic situations, everybody says 'You'd better be careful. Somebody's going to die or get hurt. Well, we started out with somebody dying."
Rosa Chavez was killed in 2007. She was the passenger of a car that missed that curve. A sign paying tribute to her life sits on Ard's fence.
The driver, who was believed to be under the influence at the time, fled the scene and was never seen again.
"No justice," Delfina Gomez Chavez, Rosa's sister, said.
Sitting with Rosa's son beside her and the grandchildren her sister never got to meet, Delfina says they are no longer surprised by news of yet another crash.
Even before the property where Chavez lost her life was developed and they were introduced to Ard in 2017, Delfina says there were problems at the curve.
"We would go, and we would see debris of other vehicles there and we would pick it up when we would go see her," she said.
But the latest crash was different. It happened on Feb. 6 -- Rosa's birthday.
"That's why we keep saying 'Rosa's watching over us' and we got to heed to that and she's going to guide us to get this solution," Ard said.
His mission, which he started in on in 2023, is now to find a solution.
"When it started out we went to the city of Lakewood who said 'Well, that's 6th Avenue, it's CDOT (who manages it)' and we went to CDOT and they said 'Well, that's the city of Lakewood (who manages it). So we went into this finger-pointing realm for quite a while," he said.
CDOT eventually responded and added signs alerting drivers to the curve and the reduced speed.
"We appreciate it and all, but ... it's like they checked the box. Again, I don't want to be ugly, but the box was checked and they thought 'That's it,'" Ard said.
The Chavez family and Ard would like to see a speed bump or something to slow drivers down long before they reach the curve. Ard says engineers have told him it would take both jurisdictions working together for it to happen.
"I know there' s solutions," Ard said.
Ard says "going outside the box" in the search for a solution is necessary.
Until then, those along that curve are left holding their breath. Until next time.
"It's a matter of when, not if," Ard said.
CBS Colorado reached out to the city of Lakewood about their concerns. A spokesperson says CDOT fully owns and controls that frontage road, but that they did recommend additional signage.
A spokesperson for CDOT also responded to a request for comment about potential future upgrades, saying in part, "The key issue is driver behavior." And that "We will further evaluate the location to see if more signage is needed, but adding signs will not mitigate speeding or DUIs. While we continuously improve state-maintained roads, motorists must do their part and drive safely."
