CB council adopts its transportation mobility plan

A guiding strategy for getting around town

By Kendra Walker 

The Crested Butte town council has adopted its Crested Butte Transportation Mobility Plan, a policy roadmap to help the town meet its strategic goal in the Community Compass of “de-emphasizing cars and focusing on walking, biking, rolling and transit.”

As previously reported by the Crested Butte News, the Town has been working with the community and regional mobility partners to develop the plan since January 2023. Based on Crested Butte’s existing mobility conditions and community and council feedback, the plan has evolved into a starting point to address transportation issues in Crested Butte. 

Over the last several months the council discussed changes and improvements to the plan, focusing on more parking management in town to discourage the number of vehicles coming into Crested Butte; wanting to see a more visible marshal’s presence to discourage speeding in town; protecting individual neighborhoods from an increase in car volume by discouraging measures that push vehicles from main driving corridors onto more pedestrian-friendly streets; exploring further expansion and use of existing pedestrian corridors throughout town; and allowing retail parklets on Elk Avenue to complement the current restaurant parklets.

The plan presents an overarching guiding strategy for improving transportation choices, managing parking convenience and integrating land use and transportation. It also outlines a 20-year action plan to address maintenance improvements, corridor planning, design, and implementation, traffic calming and pedestrian connectivity, parking, transit and regulatory changes.

Crested Butte long range planner Mel Yemma explained during the March 4 council meeting that transportation will inevitably change, but having a solidified guiding strategy will help as new things come up with parking, traffic, etc. “It’s important that this won’t just go on the shelf,” she said. “It’s really a tool to help inform future budgeting. Priorities can change year to year and having that guiding strategy will be helpful to how we prioritize.”

Mayor Ian Billick reiterated the council’s desire to keep alleys and slower neighborhoods slow, and to embrace opportunities that distribute traffic with minimal impact to any one neighborhood. 

“The more we can support them and celebrate the pedestrian nature, the better. But I’m comfortable with where we are,”said Billick.

After a brief discussion reviewing refinements and minor changes from the previous draft, the council unanimously approved the adoption of the Crested Butte Transportation and Mobility Plan at the March 4 council meeting.

Looking at 2024 priorities outlined in the plan, Yemma said the town is hitting the ground running with developing a traffic calming policy, collaborating with RTA on its upcoming Transit Development Plan and working on preliminary design and potential grants for the Sixth Street roundabout.