A HOMEOWNER has blasted the Department of Transportation for refusing to repair a fence in his backyard, even though they own in.
Dennis Richards experienced several months of disturbed nights due to the noise caused by a stranger’s car crashing through the fence that was supposed to be maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
Just before Christmas, a car accident happened on Interstate 225 in the Denver suburb of Aurora, right outside Richards’ property.
A vehicle smashed through the fence, leaving wooden boards strewn over his lawn and a gaping hole straight to the highway.
Richards knew the fence wasn’t his responsibility, but getting the right agency to fix it turned into a nightmare.
He told NBC affiliate KUSA that his father had sold part of their backyard to the Colorado Department of Transportation in 1996 for around $17,000.
The agency built the 8-foot sound barrier that still stands there today.
However, after the accident, neither the City of Aurora nor CDOT wanted to take responsibility for fixing it.
Richards said he got nothing but the runaround.
“I’m here with my hands out asking for help,” he said.
“With them, they got their fists clenched, and they’re like, ‘No way.”
Richards used supplies from his backyard to patch up the hole. Then he called the city.
Aurora officials told him the land was either his or the state’s. CDOT said its jurisdiction “end at the crosswalk.”
Despite an official CDOT marker situated at the site, a CDOT employee still advised Richards to hire a land surveyor to establish that the fence was on CDOT property.
The months of waiting, uncertainty, and frustration took a toll.
“It’s gone on for months, so it’s affected my life and the stress in my life, for sure,” he said.
At first, CDOT insisted Aurora may be responsible.
But late Monday, the agency finally reversed course.
In response to the situation, CDOT spokeswoman Tamara Rollison stated, “While there is currently uncertainty regarding the party responsible for the fence’s repairs and upkeep, CDOT has committed to restoring the fence.”
She added the agency would continue working with Aurora to determine long-term responsibility.
For Richards, it’s been a long fight. His family has lived in the area since 1965, watching it transform over the decades.
“We moved here when you could hear coyotes howl. Mississippi was a two-lane street,” he said.
Now, he says, his peaceful neighborhood has been replaced with something else entirely.
“Now we hear the light rail car that goes over 225. We hear it clanging. We went from coyotes to clanging.”
CDOT has not given a timeline for repairs. But for Richards, the only thing that matters is getting the gaping hole in his backyard fence fixed, once and for all.
