Lookout Mountain Road closures set to begin Wednesday night in Colorado
The road up Lookout Mountain will close overnights starting Wednesday night. Jefferson County officials say the closure is necessary to protect that beautiful stretch of road in Colorado's foothills.
Keith Giacchino gets ready for a unicycle ride on sunny day on Lookout Mountain Road. A Douglas county resident, he comes up to Golden just about every other week for years. But lately, he's noticed some changes.
"I would say there's more people that come up," he told CBS Colorado. "It's been more crowded."
Not the worst type of change, but there are others that are causing action. Vandalism, trash and even gunshots in late evening hours has become an issue in the park.
"Those are times when things get out of control and there's nobody here to help," Kieth said.
People coming up to party within the park has been known for years but lately, the trend has ventured into places where there are safety concerns. Residents told CBS Colorado that their biggest worry is hearing gunshots in the late evening hours at the park. Jeffco Open Space spokesman Matt Robbins told CBS Colorado that those living on Lookout Mountain Road have brought shell casings to community meetings to show the issues they face. In conjunction with Denver Parks & Recreation did their own analysis on activity in the park after hours.
"We did some analysis that actually demonstrated through cellphones that the park was actually busier on weekends at midnight than at 10 in the morning," Robbins said.
After months of planning and two weeks of training, the gates on Lookout Mountain Road will close starting at 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. When Daylight Savings Time ends, the park closure will start one hour after sunset and end one hour before sunrise.
"As of tomorrow, Wednesday the 29th, we'll be going with a fully functioning closure for that 4.1 miles," said Robbins.
Park users like Keith say it's a good plan, citing a need to decrease trash and vandalism but also voicing a concern for firearms and fireworks and the potential it can create for wildfires in the area. Over the summer, the Goltra Fire burned roughly 10 acres just across the canyon from Lookout Mountain Road.
"The people that are in here at night are trashing the bathrooms, leaving garbage every night and just partying and creating mischief," said Keith.
But some residents aren't sold, worrying that the traffic and problems will simply come down the mountain towards their neighborhood. Robbins told CBS Colorado that there will be regular patrols to make sure it doesn't happen. The first stops will involve education but eventually could escalate to fines for trespassing on county property.
"We have a tremendous relationship with Jeffco sheriff and Golden police so they as well as our own staff will be doing monetary sweeps throughout the park," Robbins said.
As Keith begins his ride uphill hoping that the park remains clean, available and open for everyone to use responsibly.