Traffic talk regarding Glenwood and Highway 82 set for Wednesday

By Pete Fowler
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
February 26, 2008

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Highway 82 forum

Some say traffic through downtown is the most important issue facing Glenwood What: An open house for the Highway 82 corridor optimization plan When: People can attend any time Wednesday between 4 and 7 p.m. Where: The Glenwood Springs Community Center at 100 Wulfsohn Road Why: The purpose of the corridor optimization plan is to determine how to handle traffic through Glenwood Springs. The public is invited to learn about the plan and offer comments.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The public will get a shot Wednesday at saying what should happen with Highway 82 traffic through downtown.

“I’m hoping that we have a huge turnout,” said City Councilor Shelley Kaup. “People need to go to this if they want to have a voice in which alternatives might best solve our traffic problems on Highway 82.”

Glenwood Springs, Garfield County and the Colorado Department of Transportation will hold an open house Wednesday on a corridor optimization plan, meant to pick the best few options from 22 proposed in a corridor optimization study.

To some people, the fact that the county and state are holding cards in the Highway 82 game this time could be the key to actually getting something done.

“All the studies in the past were strictly done by the city,” said Don Gillespie, a former Glenwood Springs City Councilor and member of the Transportation Commission. “To me, the big key is that the county and CDOT and the city are partners in this.”

There have been about 11 studies addressing Highway 82 downtown traffic concerns since 1973. At that time, the city designated Midland Avenue as the route that would provide an alternative to Highway 82 downtown, but some say building homes along Midland Avenue prevented that from actually happening.

The public is invited Wednesday to ask questions, offer comments and learn about the plan. Study team representatives will present the corridor optimization plan’s goals, as well as the alternatives under consideration.

“I think the public input is very critical at this stage,” Kaup said. “I think it does get taken into account. It’s similar to voting on anything else. It’s part of the democratic process.”

She said comments will be used to help rank the 22 alternatives, and perhaps more importantly, comments will help determine the priorities in evaluating the options.

Gillespie knows which alternative he prefers.

“My premise has always been to get the ownership of Grand Avenue back to the city,” Gillespie said. “The only way you’ll get that ownership back is if you completely relocate Highway 82, and I think it should be along the east corridor of the (Roaring Fork) River.”

He likes that option because the city has already purchased a good deal of the right of way along the river. Some people worry about the aesthetics of building new roadway near the river. But Gillespie sees Interstate 70 improvements in Glenwood Canyon as a similar situation that could even improve the river front. Probably very few, if any, have complained about bike and pedestrian access to the Colorado River after I-70 construction was done in Glenwood Canyon, he added.

Gillespie doesn’t like the term “bypass.” He says it confuses the issue, which is getting Highway 82 out of downtown.

“The definition of a bypass, to CDOT, means that you are only adding to their highway system,” he said.

The best few alternatives should be identified by next fall. After that, the options will undergo the National Environmental Protection Act, which could take about another year and lead to action. The city said that the PBS&J engineering firm received a $93,543 contract to do the corridor optimization plan, which follows the $186,772 corridor optimization study also done by PBS&J.

“I’m hoping this process will help us come to a decision as a city as a whole,” Kaup said.

Contact Pete Fowler: 384-9121
pfowler@postindependent.com




Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO