Cottonwood Pass road back on the table

Funding remains stumbling block for county

Gunnison County is revisiting the paving of Cottonwood Pass despite having opted out of a federally backed construction project on the road less than six months ago.

The county and the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) originally green-lighted the project to pave and improve the high-elevation pass last summer, but in October the county determined that it would be unable to follow through with the construction due to a lack of revenue.
The project was anticipated to cost the county about $5.1 million in match money, and according to staff the money just wasn’t available. The hard decision was made to abort the project for the time being, and a letter was sent detailing as much to the DOT, said Matthew Birnie, county manager.
Now, however, the DOT has returned to the county with the message that it is largely unwilling to abandon the idea of conducting at least a minimum upgrade to the top several miles of the pass on the Gunnison side.
“When the Federal Highway Administration was notified that we could not participate in the Cottonwood project because of the cost of the match, they expressed disappointment, but also identified it as a priority project and indicated they were unwilling to remove it from the list without further discussion,” said Marlene Crosby, Gunnison County Public Works director, in a memo to the Board of County Commissioners.
“After being on the pass last summer during the busy season, they are very concerned about the safety on the top section of the pass where there are sections that are 16 to 18 feet wide and the traffic using the pass needs at least an 11-foot lane.”
The DOT told Crosby that they believed the major issues were with the top five miles of the pass, and that is the area they would like to see improved. The total cost for the work would be about $16.2 million if the road were paved as well as widened and about $13.4 million if it were improved but left unpaved. The match for Gunnison County would be either $3.8 or $3.2 million, respectively.
When the DOT approached Crosby with the proposal for just the upper five miles of the pass, she told the commissioners that her response was similar to that for the previous project.
She said, “We know that a project is needed, we would very much like to participate, but it depends on the cost of the project, the cost of the match, revenues coming into the county and the cost of projects currently on the table.”
Despite the desire of Crosby and the county commissioners to make the project happen, all of those things together may likely prove too much, and once again the county may have to decline to pursue the project, even at the proposed smaller scale.
“You’ve heard from us that improving Cottonwood and increasing the safety of the pass is important,” said Commissioner Jonathan Houck. “Even if we can’t do it now, it doesn’t make it any less important.”
“I don’t believe that if we don’t do it this year we’ll never be able to do it,” added Birnie.
While admitting that it seems unlikely the project will proceed, the county commissioners requested that Crosby look into possible funding partners and opportunities for financial assistance that could make the project viable. Crosby will present her findings at a commissioners’ meeting later this month.