Andre Brackin, engineer for El Paso County’s Public Services Department, said he and his staff have been watching a segment of the Judge Orr Road, where the county has two culverts, for several years.”We knew this was a potential washout,” Brackin said. He said he expected it to wash out last year and had already devised an emergency plan.”This is the drainage way that comes from the Woodmen Hills detention pond, discharged directly south across Judge Orr Road,” Brackin said. It’s the same drainage way for a bridge that is being replaced on Highway 24.Brackin said about half of the road’s eastbound lane is gone.”With just a small amount of storm runoff, the storm we had on Friday [April 23] coupled with discharge from the Woodmen Hills plant, started eroding the road pretty badly,” he said.”I’m not going to play that particular blame game,” said Larry Bishop, manager of Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District. “It was always in the county’s plans to upgrade that thing at some point in the future because of drainage issues.”However, some obstacles stand in the way of fixing the road.Brackin said three permits need to be obtained before work can start – an environmental permit, a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a de-watering permit from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, with the CDPHE permit taking the longest to get.In addition to getting the permits, diverting the drainage way, installing new culverts and repairing the roadway; a water pipe under the roadway needs to be lowered so the county’s new box culvert with bigger pipes can be installed.Bishop said the water pipe is jointly owned by Woodmen Hills Metro and Meridian Service Metropolitan District.Shortly after the washout, Brackin said the county would handle the lowering of the water pipe, but Bishop said Meridian Service is taking the lead, with the two districts sharing the bill of $37,000 to $42,000.Tim Hunker, superintendent of the Meridian Service district, said they plan to hire a contractor who specializes in water pipe construction to get the de-watering permit and lower the pipe.The pipe brings water from wells into a water treatment facility, he said.Hunker said he does not expect Woodmen Hills residents to experience any water service disruption because two other water treatment plants provide service to them. But, if the water main had to be lowered in July, when residents tend to use more water, a service disruption might be a possibility, he said.The actual work to lower the water pipe will take four days, Hunker said. Mountain View Electric Association has already moved some power lines that were in the way of making the repair, he added.Brackin said replacement of the culvert can be done in a few days, and repairing the road should not take more than a few weeks.Before repairs can start, runoff will have to be diverted to a detention pond and then metered for a manageable flow through the drainage way, he said.The repair will cost about $400,000, but that amount was determined before the two metro districts decided to lower the water line themselves, Brackin said.After the repairs are complete, the county will retain responsibility for the drainage flow under Judge Orr Road.”It’s fully a county responsibility, and we will be the ones to make sure we get the work done right, and it’s stabilized,” Brackin said.
