Four-way Stop is ready for traffic

Landscaping to happen this fall

The Four-way Stop is a go. By the time you read this, most of the revised Crested Butte Four-way Stop should be open for business. After nine years of planning and two months of concentrated work, the town is ready to let traffic roll over the newly laid asphalt and concrete at Sixth and Elk.

The intersection should be open Thursday, July 3, with the parking areas in front of the businesses opening early on Friday.
“It’s all about the concrete,” explained Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “The last concrete crosswalks were laid down Monday and Tuesday and concrete is supposed to cure for six or seven days. I’m not too worried about regular traffic as long as heavy trucks and buses stay off. The concrete in the street crosswalks was poured last week so it should be good to go Thursday.”
While the majority of the work is now complete, adding some green will, Gillie hopes, take place when the summer tourism season slows down.
“We are relooking at the landscaping plan now that the grades and spaces are defined,” said Gillie. “We’ll evaluate the situation and invite the local businesses to participate in making a nice landscape for the Four-way. Hopefully that will take place this fall. The main sprinkler water line is through the intersection but we’ll have to add the fingers. Right now, we have a request out for bids on the landscaping.
“I’m just pleased this got completed before the Fourth of July,” continued Gillie. “I think it will work well for its main function, which is to serve pedestrians and bus movement. That’s the main thrust.”
As with any construction project, over the next few weeks, the town will be adding the finishing flourishes, with some work on retaining walls and benches and trashcans to be placed out for the
public.
The Four-way realignment project started in earnest in early May and took just under two months to complete as part of Crested Butte’s “Sixth Street Project.” The entire project will cost the town approximately $1.7 million with the Four-way upgrade coming in at about a million dollars. Later this July, some finishing concrete work will be done on the corners of Sixth Street that were worked on last summer.
“After the question of ‘When will this be done?’ the second most asked question was ‘Where is the round-about?” said Gillie. “The answer is that the round-about wasn’t pedestrian-friendly enough at that particular place. I think overall, people will like the end result of the project.”