Granby is looking to address the state of disrepair on Thompson Road.

The crumbling road from the stoplight at US Highway 40 to the back entrance of City Market was not well designed for the level of use it sees, Town Manager Ted Cherry told Granby trustees Tuesday. The road, filled with potholes and falling to pieces, requires over a million dollars worth of repairs that nobody necessarily wants to pay for.

The road mainly serves those accessing the commercial area including City Market, King Soopers Fuel Center, McDonald’s, Subway and Granby Marketplace Liquors, but also is the main entrance to the Grand Elk subdivision and provides access to County Road 56.

A traffic study conducted Tuesday, Aug. 31, on the road helped to highlight that point. On that day, 5,771 vehicles turned from the stoplight off the highway toward City Market, with 14% continuing down Thompson Road and 3.7% continuing onto County Road 56. The remaining 82.3% of drivers went to the commercial area.

There are also the heavyweight vehicles that deliver to the commercial area that add to the overall toll on that section of road. Sharon Silva, liaison for the Grand Elk Homeowners Association, added that the rest of the roads in the subdivision — which don’t see much commercial use — are holding up much better than that section of Thompson Road.

All documents for the creation of Grand Elk state that the town will not be responsible for the maintenance of the roads in Grand Elk, including Thompson Road. However, the Grand Elk HOA does not have the funding to fix the road.

Grand Elk and the town have attempted to work with Dillon Companies, which owns the commercial properties, on splitting the costs, but Cherry and Silva both said it has been hard to get a hold of the company and have them make a commitment.

Sky-Hi News could not reach Dillon Companies, and the Kroger Company did not respond to a request for comment.

Cherry told the town board that he could find no documentation that held Dillon Companies responsible for road repairs. He added that the company does pay into the Grand Elk General Improvement District debt service funds — equal $210,808 over the past 10 years — and provides a substantial sales tax base to the town.

Granby staff did ask SGM, the town’s engineer, to provide a cost estimate and scope of work to perform the engineering to fix the road. SGM estimated the costs to fix that section of road at approximately $1.15 million, though that could change once engineering is complete.

SGM’s quote for engineering the project is $45,000. Despite the town’s hesitation about setting a precedent for repairing roads that should be maintained by an HOA, staff asked the board if they would be willing to pay for half the engineering costs.

The board agreed that while they would like to get a contribution from the Dillon Company, the crumbling road leading to Granby’s main grocery store poses both a quality of life and public safety issue for all Granby residents. Additionally, it was pointed out that the road would only continue to worsen.

The board unanimously approved spending the $22,500 on engineering the road improvements. As the Grand Elk General Improvement District, which the town board also sits as, trustees approved using the GID’s debt service fund to pay for the other half of costs.

Cherry and Silva added that conversations continue about funding the construction costs, along with attempts to contact Dillon Companies. Cherry said that the county manager has been made aware of the issues on the road, but wasn’t sure if the county would be willing to contribute to repairs despite it accessing a county-owned road.

SGM has already moved forward with surveys of the property because that work needed to be completed before the snow fell.