Heavy precipitation last week and subsequent runoff from melting snow flooded a section of the Laramie River Greenbelt Trailhead, causing the trail to be closed.
Paul Harrison, Laramie’s director of parks and recreation, said the runoff turned the Snowy Range Road underpass into a hazard for runners and bicyclists.
“Once the river goes over the trail, we have to close it for public safety concerns,” Harrison said. “With running river water, even six inches deep can be dangerous and can sweep you off your feet.”
Flooding at the underpass is not unusual in the spring, though it often comes later in the season and causes the department of parks and recreation to close that part of the trail for about four to six weeks.
“We believe it was just the snow causing a temporary rise of the river,” Harrison said. “We usually see rises in the river when we have as much snow and moisture as we did last weekend.”
Evan Kleinpaste, a UW student, rides or runs on the Greenbelt Trailhead two to four times a week and said he usually enjoys it.
“It’s a pretty enjoyable bike path,” he said. “But the area under the Snowy Range Bridge is closed a lot and this could be a problem for many people.”
Snowy Range Road was in place long before Greenbelt, so when the trail was built, it had to accommodate certain limitations. Because of the low height of the bridge above, the trail had to drop down to an elevation that’s expected to flood about every two years in order to have the required seven and a half feet of clearance.
“The height of the trail is in the two-year flood elevation,” Harrison said. “We knew we were going to have issues. Obviously it’s a huge inconvenience for those who use the trail daily for outdoor recreation.”
The unavoidable problem turned out worse than expected. In recent years the underpass has been flooding annually.
Kleinpaste said he shared the frustration of many runners and cyclists unable to use the trail.
“I think it would be nice if it was fixed,” he said. “It might get more people on the Greenbelt and it would be more professional. If not, I think it would be better to just place a ‘Warning: proceed at your own risk’ sign in the flood area instead of a ‘closed’ sign.”
Harrison said Parks and Recreation does have a solution in mind, but it can only be implemented once funding becomes available. A viaduct leading people on the trail up onto the highway and over the bridge could alleviate the inconvenience of repeatedly flooded Snowy Range Road underpass, Harrison said.
At the time of this story, the underpass was still flooded and the trail closed.
