DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. - A fatal crash on I-25 North in Douglas County Friday has sparked a broader conversation among residents about whether the area's roads and highways can handle its rapid growth.
Colorado State Patrol responded to a multi-vehicle crash on I-25 in Douglas County around 1:30 p.m.
A 31-year-old man from Aurora was pronounced dead at the scene. The highway was closed for more than four hours, gridlocking traffic across the county.
▶️ Watch Tyler's video report in the player below.
The shutdown sent drivers scrambling for alternate routes and flooded local roads almost immediately.
"You could see the chatter on social media, and then the roads just got flooded. It was almost instantaneous," Douglas County resident Dan Notartomaso said.
Notartomaso was among many residents who took to social media Friday evening to offer condolences to the victim's family while also raising concerns about the county's infrastructure.
"This is a perfect example of what an emergency egress out of town would look like if we had a fire or other disaster. Stop building new homes. The surrounding infrastructure cannot handle it," Notartomaso posted on Facebook.
He pointed to recent residential development as a key part of the problem.
"They've put in 1,100 homes and when you add two cars per household, you didn't change the road. Founders has always been a two-way in, two-way out, you're immediately putting another 3,000 cars on the road, and that's just terrain," Notartomaso explained.
Sheila Gross spent two hours in traffic trying to pick up her child from day care during the shutdown. Her husband, Michael, delivers pizza and said it took him more than two hours round trip to complete an order that was less than 5 miles away.
"I've never seen anything like that in the time I've been in Castle Rock. Unfortunately, yes, the person who passed away, my heart goes out to their family and all those involved. That is not diminishing this at all, but Castle Rock was not built for this type of shutdown thing," Sheila Gross said.
Gross said she hopes local leaders take notice.
"I think yesterday was a really big eye-opening experience, especially for city and council to say, 'Hey, what do we do to avoid this or mitigate it as best as we can,'" Gross said.
Both the Gross' and Notartomaso are calling on the Town of Castle Rock, Douglas County, and the Colorado Department of Transportation to evaluate how roads and highways can better serve the community's current size.
Gross noted some work is already underway.
"I think over the next 25 years, what some of the big things that they've already started a little bit working on is widening some of those major exit paths, especially the major corridors from like Castle Rock to Parker, being like Crowfoot Road. They're doing pretty aggressive expansion there, but it still has bottlenecks," said Michael Gross.
Notartomaso said the focus needs to shift away from new development.
"Right now we have to slow down development, we have to work with the space that we've already got, with the people that we already have, and find a plan that gets everybody out safely," Notartomaso said.
Denver7 reached out to Castle Rock, Douglas County, and CDOT officials for comment. Castle Rock said it would follow up with Denver7's Tyler Melito on Monday regarding these concerns.
Douglas County referred Melito to CDOT, as the highway falls under their jurisdiction, but noted the work being done in the county's 2050 Transportation Plan. The county did also offer an interview on the transportation plan, a story that will come at a later date on Denver7.
CDOT did not respond.
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