When things seemingly couldn’t get any worse for Dillon Valley residents, a burst waterline on Evergreen Road forced a detour through the neighborhood.

“This is an outrage!” said Piney Acres resident Judy Romano, who uses Evergreen Road to enter and exit her neighborhood. “This has gone on far too long.”

The broken waterline narrowed Evergreen Road to one lane of traffic while construction crews repaired the burst line. All outbound traffic was rerouted through Little Beaver Trail, despite the road having been closed since May due to safety concerns.

The six-inch waterline ruptured at approximately 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. The Dillon Valley Metropolitan District began work to repair the ruptured line at noon Tuesday. If all went according to plan, the line was expected be fixed by 8 or 9 p.m. Tuesday night, said Dillon Valley Metropolitan District manager Francis Winston.

Tuesday marked the first time since May that Little Beaver Trail was reopened to public traffic. The road was closed after a burst waterline caused a retaining wall above Little Beaver Trail to fail, spilling debris on one of Dillon Valley’s only two entrances. All traffic in and out of Dillon Valley since May has been forced to use Evergreen Road.

Dillon public works and law-enforcement crews were on hand at Little Beaver Trail to monitor the unstable slope above for suspicious movement that could lead to rockslides, said Dillon town manager Devin Granbery. The road will be reclosed once the waterline is repaired.

Winston said the ruptured line was caused when the “the ground and the mountain moved” and said this type of accident was “fairly common across the mountain country.” The Town of Dillon has experienced several waterline breaks over the past year, which Granbery chalked up to “happenstance.”

Dillon public works crews helped the Dillon Valley Metropolitan district to coordinate the repair and detour efforts, even though the road and the neighborhood are not in Dillon town limits. Little Beaver Trail is a right-of-way owned by the Town of Dillon.

The town has contracted Silverthorne-based Columbine Hills Concrete to install a temporary wall to block the landslide and reopen Little Beaver Trail to one lane of traffic through the winter. Traffic signals will be placed at either end of the affected area to allow traffic to flow from one direction at a time. The project will cost $34,870, which will be drawn from a $200,000 account set up by the Town of Dillon specifically for repairs to Little Beaver Trail.

Construction on the temporary wall cannot begin until the Walgreens retail store above is secured. Walgreens contracted Denver-based Hayward Baker to install a series of rock anchors to ensure the building’s stability. The repair is expected to be complete by Thursday.

A permanent fix for the failed retaining wall will be implemented next spring, though no details were available on what the repair will entail. During the construction phase, Little Beaver Trail will be closed for an additional three to four months to all public traffic, leaving Evergreen Road as the only entrance to and exit from Dillon Valley again.

SDN reporter Drew Andersen can be contacted at (970) 668-4633 or drewa@summitdaily.com.