No Riding in the Big Thompson Canyon Any Time Soon
If you live in Colorado this is not news, but if you live elsewhere and have plans to come ride in Colorado it’s important news. No one is going to be doing much riding in the Big Thompson Canyon any time soon.
An elevated portion of the road down the Big Thompson Canyon before the recent flooding.
Let’s get some history. Back in 1976 there was a huge flood in the Big Thompson that killed more than 150 people. When they rebuilt the highway they built it to prevent that sort of devastation again. Or so they thought.
In places in the narrow parts of the canyon where the road used to run right alongside the river, the new construction raised the roadway 20 feet or more above the previous level. Watching that video you can see that a large part of that raised construction got washed away. It’s an aerial view so it’s hard to see for sure, but the walls of the elevated portion seem to have come through reasonably well. Nevertheless, the decking, i.e., the road surface, is totally washed away in some places and substantially missing in others. Not quite sure how that happened but it did. So much for the best laid plans of highway engineers.
So of course you have to wonder what they’ll do this time to rebuild the road and make it last. The one thing you don’t have to wonder about at all is whether there will be any riding in that canyon in the next six months or more. If they just put things back the way they were it would probably take that long. If they try something new it will first take time to come up with ideas and develop those ideas and then put them into place.
The Big Thompson is a beautiful canyon and it’s a great place to ride. Just don’t plan on doing that till next year some time.
Biker Quote for Today
Half the adventure is trying to figure out when and where to stop for a photo.
Tags: Big Thompson Canyon
