Town and school district agree to split roundabout construction costs

Future overruns responsibility of town

by Mark Reaman 

The town of Crested Butte is more confident than Gunnison County that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will approve its roundabout project that is slated to begin later this year. The county is worried the Brush Creek roundabout will see a state-caused delay until next year. For town, it is the Red Lady roundabout by the Crested Butte Community School that it hopes to secure bids for this summer. Preliminary work could begin this fall if everything lands into place with the majority of work happening in 2027.

The Red Lady roundabout costs are being split between the town and the school district, with the school expansion concluding by the end of this summer. The roundabout is estimated to cost $4.7 million, and $2.2 million in grants will help pay for it.

Gunnison Watershed School District superintendent Leslie Nichols attended the June 1 Crested Butte town council meeting to flesh out the roundabout agreement between the district and the town as her project winds down. While she cited traffic studies that indicate school related traffic will contribute 38% of the anticipated growth in traffic at the roundabout, she said the district is willing to split the roundabout costs 50/50 with the town and has already done so in the design phase. That construction expense is anticipated to be $1,270,318 for both parties.

“Our intention is to be in partnership with you on this project,” said Nichols. “The roundabout meets more town goals than CBCS goals, but your suggested option for an agreement allows us to move forward and close out the project.”

She and the town agreed that the school would commit to paying half the cost based on bids that hopefully come in by early August. The town and school district said they are confident in their roundabout cost estimates. As part of the agreement between the town and district, the school district “would not bear any further risk of negative changes between the bid amount and change orders during construction.” That would fall on the town.

Crested Butte public works director Shea Earley said his read is that CDOT is ready to keep the roundabout process moving. “We have done two significant reviews with CDOT on this and expect a CDOT decision soon,” he said while assuring the council that the estimates arrived at with engineers were solid.

The council approved the cost sharing proposal with the understanding that the town would assume the risk of any cost overruns.