Kebler Pass ready to open Friday

“Memorial Day is always a goal, but not always achieved”

By Katherine Nettles

A new and welcomed seasonal route between Crested Butte and its neighbors to the west will be available in time for this weekend, as Kebler Pass Road is expected to open to through traffic starting Friday, May 31. Gunnison County Public Works and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have worked for more than six weeks to prepare the road for summer traffic, often battling against Mother Nature as several feet of snow and driving winds wreaked havoc on the efforts of work crews and delayed the opening past the goal of Memorial Day. 

“We are aiming to open Kebler in the afternoon on Friday,” confirmed Gunnison County Public Works director Martin Schmidt on Tuesday. “So far, the weather predictions look like they will be favorable. We are working with CDOT and Montrose County to get it in great shape and open to the public. There will be traffic control in place, but it will not be a pilot car. The flaggers will be checking for vehicles that exceed the restrictions on County Road 12. Anything over 30,000 pounds or 50 feet in total length will be directed to drive around.” 

This year, efforts started earlier than usual in hopes of getting the road open ahead of Memorial Day weekend to alleviate the delays and complications associated with the US Highway 50 closure at the Middle Bridge along Blue Mesa Reservoir due to safety concerns. The bridge is now undergoing repairs and expected to open to one-way traffic by July 4. 

Kebler is expected to get more pressure due to the Highway 50 closure, and the continual road work within Little Blue Creek Canyon between Gunnison and Montrose. 

Kebler does not always open in time for Memorial Day weekend, although many Gunnison County and Pitkin County residents have come to expect it. In 2023, extensive road and culvert damage delayed its opening until June 20; it did not open until June in 2019 either.  “And sometime in the 2010-2015 range we had a large sluff that delayed opening more than a month, but I think it was still before July 4,” said Schmidt. He recalled that in 2008 the opening was delayed significantly as well. 

“Memorial Day is always a goal, but definitely not always achieved,” he concluded. “There is always an initial surge of traffic, but we don’t usually see sustained heavy traffic volumes until closer to the Fourth of July.”