A Denver construction zone caused headaches for a handful of drivers on Tuesday night after a rough patch left them with flat tires.
Lee Washington was driving back from home along South University Boulevard near Harvard Avenue when he heard two of his tires explode.
“It just looked like two holes, maybe, I don’t know,” he said, “Eight to ten inches round.”
Washington had to get his car towed and will have to replace the two tires on his car that he had just purchased a month ago.
“You would hope they would take into account people that this might happen to,” he said.
He is not the only driver dealing with tire problems after passing by the area where crews are putting in a new water line across from the site of a future apartment complex near DU.
Mike Spalding had one of this tires blown at the exact spot.
“This is a big problem,” he said, “They’ve got to fix this.”
He’ll have to pay $100 for a new tire.
At least one other driver brought their car to the same auto repair shop as Washington with a flat tire caused by the same road construction zone.
Washington said a construction worker at the site told him he’d be willing to pay half of his cost out of his own pocket.
An on-site supervisor for WBB Construction, Inc., the general contractor for the project, told Denver7 they have not received any complaints, but will look into the situation.
A spokeswoman for Denver’s Public Works department said after speaking with someone from the construction company, they were told the problem was caused by a temporary patch on the road that was washed away in Tuesday’s afternoon storm.
Public Works has since told them to use stronger material when patching up work.
For now, Washington has no plans on driving on South University Boulevard during construction. Spalding said he will, but as he advises drivers from now on, do so very slowly.
---------
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.