Recent snow raises concern about landslide, rock slide risk

Local leaders and property owners hope they don’t see a repeat of conditions last spring that contributed to damage from landslides and rock slides.

April has been a snowy month in Colorado and there are concerns that the moisture could cause rock slides along highways, including U.S. 24 in Ute Pass.

On Tuesday afternoon, a minor rock slide in Ute Pass damaged five vehicles.

“The biggest rock was about the size of a football,” said Ken Quintana, a highway supervisor with the Colorado Department of Transportation. “We regularly patrol and keep an eye out for rocks that look like they’re about to fall. But it’s impossible to know when and where that happens.”

Quintana said Tuesday’s slide is rare in that it happened on the eastbound side of the highway. It was the fourth slide for the area in two months.

“They usually happen on the northbound side because that’s where the sun contributes to the freeze-thaw cycle,” he said.

CDOT asks drivers to be alert for falling rocks until the current wet spell ends.

“We do rock mitigation but that won’t happen until September,” Quintana said.

Constant rain last spring contributed to slow-moving landslides that damaged dozens of homes in several west Colorado Springs neighborhoods.

The city is concerned that more wet weather could accelerate the movement of existing landslides or create new ones.

“We are in contact with the homeowners who have already reported they had landslide damage or saw landslides occurring in their neighborhoods, and we’re keeping in contact,” said Gordon Brenner of the city’s Office of Emergency Management. “So far, we haven’t heard anything that has caused a greater movement of soil.”

The city is waiting to learn whether the federal government will buy the homes of affected residents.