Boulder Creek Closed To Clean Up Flood Debris
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – Much of Boulder Creek is currently off limits to swimming, floating and kayaking while crews clean up the debris from last September's floods.
The closure includes the creek from Boulder Falls In Boulder County all the way though the eastern city limits of Boulder.
Because the city manager has issued an emergency rule, police and deputies can issue citations to people who violate the rules.
Violators face fines up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail.
Crews say the whole point of their work is to make the people who use the creek safer.
"If anybody's upset with a one or two day temporary closure versus a long term improvement, that's just silly," said Longmont resident Jon Evans.
Contractors are removing rocks, tree branches and concrete blocks the flooding left behind.
Some of the concrete has rebar sticking out into the channel.
"It was pretty nasty, you know, what came through here and the debris that was there," said Littleton resident Shelley Bramer.
The closure will last as long as the cleanup continues, and city and county staff say people must stay out of the creek.
Project manager Abram Bebo says crews are replacing drop structures like a set of stairs to control water flow.
"As the water comes down it checks the velocity of it and slows it down," said Bebo.
By removing boulders that could pull people underwater, Bebo says they are making water activities safer.
"We're not coming in and just patching it up, we're actually coming in and doing a full scale repair," said Bebo.
Contractors say they will spend another two days finishing up work in the section from Broadway upstream to 6th Avenue.
They expect it to be another two weeks before they complete all the repair work along the creek.
