roadwork

Park Service staff later inspected the road leading to the mine and found damage from the unpermitted movement of equipment and unauthorized roadwork, according to letters from park officials.

In March of 2023, a Park Service law enforcement ranger encountered Baghdadi and a contractor on the road to the mine supervising a bulldozer and backhoe that were performing unpermitted roadwork, according to a letter the preserve’s then-acting superintendent, Kelly Fuhrmann, sent to Cook, the county supervisor.

The Park Service eventually sent the mine operators and two contractors a $213,387 bill for costs and damages stemming from the incident, along with the roadwork allegedly performed the previous May.

Crews said the car collided with a highways roadwork protection vehicle within a closed work zone and the driver had become trapped.

Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths.