Two cyclists were taken to the hospital this month after crashing on consecutive days at the same section of the US 36 Bikeway near Louisville and Superior after the pavement buckled under extreme heat.
On July 13, Jean Dodwell, 53, hit the raised concrete and was thrown from her bike. She slid across the path and hit her head, cracking her helmet. She needed seven stitches in her elbow and suffered extensive road rash on her hip.
“It felt like going up on the skateboard ramp and then dropping,” she said. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”
The next day, around 7 p.m., a 73-year-old woman crashed at the same location and suffered significant injuries, according to Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carrie Haverfield. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital. The Sheriff’s Office had not received an update on her condition.
Cyclist Amanda Knutson saw the woman being taken away in the ambulance.
“You could see quite a lot of skid marks from other bikes, presumably hitting the bump and crashing as well,” she said. “It left a massive pool of blood on the pavement. It was obvious to me it was a direct result of the pavement.”
The hazard may have been reported by cyclists days before either crash.
Commuting Solutions, a transportation advocacy group, said in an Instagram post that it had alerted Boulder County staff to the hazard on July 8 and was told repairs would be made. The organization did not respond before publication to confirm whom it had contacted.
Dodwell said there were no warning signs posted when she crashed on July 13.
A city open space ranger responded to her crash, and cyclists who witnessed it told Dodwell they would report the hazard that day. By the following day, a cone and a sign marked “hazard area” had been placed near the buckled concrete, but the pavement had not yet been repaired.
Andrew Barth, a spokesperson for Boulder County Public Works, said the department did not learn about the damaged pavement until after the second crash on July 14. The county sent a crew to repair it the next day. It remains unclear who placed the warning signs at the site before the second crash.
The pavement buckled during a record stretch of extreme heat. Boulder recorded 11 consecutive days with temperatures at or above 94 degrees, the longest such streak on record, according to BoulderCAST. Temperatures are forecast to approach 100 degrees again this weekend.
Expansion joints between concrete slabs are designed to absorb pressure as the concrete expands, but they can fail in extreme heat, Barth said.
“Several days of extreme heat and little cooling at night likely caused the failure of the expansion joint,” he wrote in an email to Boulder Reporting Lab. “Basically, the concrete path slabs continue to push together as they expand until something gives, which is usually one slab, or both in this instance pushing up (heaving/buckling) creating a bump at the joint.”
More sections of the bikeway could buckle as the heat persists, Barth said. The county has posted additional signs warning cyclists to slow down and ride with caution.
The damaged section also appeared to rise as it heated up during the day. Dodwell and Knutson said the pavement did not appear dangerous when they passed it while riding uphill, but conditions had worsened by the time they returned later in the day. Cyclists may need to be especially cautious during the afternoons and evenings.
Dodwell said she was riding about 20 mph when she struck the raised concrete, though she and other members of her cycling clubs have ridden faster on the path.
“I know myself and my cycle club friends have gone along there a lot faster,” she said. “Had I been with them, I just wouldn’t even want to think now what would have happened.”
Dodwell has traveled from the United Kingdom to Boulder about once a year for the past eight years to cycle. She is a member of Boulder Cycle Club and Mod Boulder, and has competed in international duathlons.
“I love cycling in Boulder,” she said. “It hasn’t put me off cycling in Boulder, and I know that there is no cycling infrastructure that’s perfect anywhere in the world.”
“When I think about cycling in the UK, which can be quite precarious at the best of times, and then I think about cycling in Boulder, which has the most remarkable cycling infrastructure — I just love coming here. I love the cycling community. I love my two cycle clubs. They mean so much to me.”
Dodwell said she would like to see an app that allows cyclists to to alert one another to hazards. But her feedback about Boulder was overwhelmingly positive.
“The wider cycling community is absolutely outstanding,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything like it. You always have people looking out for you, always.”
She praised the cyclists, emergency responders and medical workers who helped her after the crash. Two cyclists stopped. One retrieved his car to drive her, while the other stood over her for about 30 minutes to provide shade. She called the OSMP ranger who responded “fantastic.” She was “super impressed” with Boulder Community Health and encouraged that many staff members who helped her were also cyclists.
After 11 days of rest, encouragement from the Boulder Cycle Club and Mod Boulder helped her get back on her bike.
“We just love this community,” she said of herself and her husband. “We feel like it’s part of our DNA now.”
Cyclists can report additional pavement heaving to the City of Boulder at 303-441-3333.
Trying to contact the correct group to get maintenance on the part is a challenge. I used to commute on it daily. During the winter, sometimes sections would go unplowed. Found out it’s not maintained by CDOT but contractors hired by the cities and counties along the route.
Can you imagine the car roadway having a bucking slab that went unmarked and not fixed for weeks. This is what happens on the bike way.
I was one of the cyclists that stopped and helped Dodwell. After I got home, I tried to contact someone to do something about this. Boulder Transportation just went to voicemail and I left a message. I also was transferred to the Sheriff’s department and left a message there. Unfortunately, nothing was done and a worse crash happened the next day. I learned that an Open Space ranger that I knew (Spencer) responded to Dodwell. I’m a bit surprised that this didn’t result in markings and cones that night…