Emma Trainor / etrainor@skyhinews.com
A little over six months after a slide-off on Trough Road claimed the life of a Kremmling man and his companion, county officials have installed two new sections of guardrail in the area.
At the beginning of this year, the Hargadine family of Grand County experienced a tragedy with the death of 37-year-old Toby Hargadine. On Jan. 3, Hargadine and his companion, 26-year-old Crysta Berntsen of Minturn, were eastbound on Trough Road near Inspiration Point when Hargadine’s vehicle slide off the road and rolled numerous times down an embankment.
The area on Trough Road, also known as Grand County Road 1, where Hargadine and Berntsen slide off is notoriously dangerous and has been the scene of other serious accidents over the years.
In fact, the remnants of other vehicles that went off Trough Road near Inspiration Point can be seen from a roadside pullout that overlooks Gore Canyon below.
In late June the Delores-based firm Gonzales Construction completed work on two separate sections of new guardrail in the area. In total, roughly 750 feet of new guardrail was installed.
“We installed new guardrail in the gap section between the two corners where we had the accident at the first of this year,” said Chris Baer, superintendent of Grand County Road and Bridge. “We also extended up the hill where the road comes down to Inspiration Point from the east.”
Baer said the new guardrails now line the entirety of the area around Inspiration Point. Baer said the total bill for the project came in at just over $42,000.
Work began on June 26 and it was completed June 28. The work itself was a direct result of safety concerns about that segment of road that were brought to the forefront by Hargadine’s and Berntsen’s deaths in January.
Emma Trainor / etrainor@skyhinews.com
“I am very thankful that people have come together and funding has been made available for the protection of future community members,” said Mary Jo Hargadine, Toby’s aunt, of the new guardrails. “We have lost several people there besides Toby. It is really nice and very much an honor for the Hargadine family to see that happen.”
Baer said Grand County Road and Bridge has other guardrail maintenance projects planned for this year but no other plans to install new segments of guardrail in the county beyond those already completed on Trough Road.
“We will be doing general maintenance and replacing some stuff on County Road 3,” Baer said. “But we are always looking for areas of concern.”