The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
83 miles linking like minded communities
by Mark Reaman
The proposed trail meant to run between Crested Butte and Carbondale was given a financial boost this month. Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) awarded a $100,000 planning grant for the proposed trail to Pitkin County.
Crested Butte town planner Michael Yerman said the trail is a very ambitious process that involves a number of political entities as well as three separate U.S. forests—the Gunnison, White River and Paonia National Forest districts.
Yerman said, “The town’s major goal in the planning effort is to get the environmental clearances and trail alignment plan to allow trail construction to commence in the coming years. There is a significant amount of trail to be built. It is a multi-year project so it will be great to get the needed Forest Service approvals to allow for future granting opportunities that can lead to a completed trail.”
According to Lindsey Utter of Pitkin County Open Space and Trail, the grant is needed to help not only navigate the trail itself, but also the complicated process to get it approved. “Over the next two years the grant dollars will fund environmental and engineering consultants helping to complete the planning for the Carbondale to Crested Butte Trail,” she said. “The goal is to have a preferred route by the end of 2017 and then work with the Forests through a joint NEPA process in 2018.”
A GOCO press release states that the Carbondale to Crested Butte Trail will ultimately link the two communities, passing through 83 miles of some of Colorado’s most beautiful landscapes. This grant is the first step in moving the project forward on the Carbondale end of the trail, which has been a vision of the community since the early 1990s. The project was recently recognized as one of Governor Hickenlooper’s “16 in 2016” priority trails. Constructing the trail will ultimately improve safety for bikers and pedestrians, who currently brave the narrow shoulder along Highway 133 from Carbondale to Redstone. The project will also create new outdoor recreation opportunities and connect existing ones.
GOCO funding will help complete a trail plan that identifies routes for current missing links and helps partners begin the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) evaluation process, which will assess the environmental impacts of the proposed trail routes. Pitkin County aims to complete the planning process by the end of 2018.
Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association executive director Dave Ochs said the trail concept between Crested Butte and Carbondale is interesting but not the top priority for the local group.
“We’re psyched to see that grant come in as well. There’s no doubt we need more Wagon Trail. Connecting to Horse Ranch Park and Lost Lake will provide awesome loop amenities and connectivity with more users off the road and on track,” Ochs said. “Beyond that, sure it’s great to see trail across to the other side, but we’d rather see connectivity with Gunnison or Paonia via single track. On the Pitkin side—a bike path and means to separate cyclists and cars on 133 is essential.”
Utter agrees with the need on the Carbondale side of the pass. “The trail is important for improving the safety of both trail users and motorists while creating a connection between the neighborhoods and communities along the way and providing an opportunity for interpreting the unique cultural and natural resources,” Utter said. “This project will be a great collaboration between counties, communities, Forests, CDOT and the public.”
From the county perspective, the Gunnison County Commissioners support this trail idea but, like CBMBA, they don’t see it as their top priority.
“When the Gunnison County Commissioners met with the Pitkin BOCC and Pitkin County Parks, Trails and Open Space staff earlier in the year we offered to support their application for a planning grant but reiterated that we were going to focus our resources and opportunities on trail development possibilities that best served our communities including Crested Butte, Mt C.B. and Gunnison and provided the best impact for locals and visitors alike,” explained Gunnison county commissioner Jonathan Houck.
The end cost of the project will be based on what alignment is ultimately chosen. Right now about half of the trail is comprised of some existing routes, but much of the current trail is really rough.
Yerman said the next step from the Crested Butte perspective is to see if the Town Council wants to participate with some funding in 2018 for the environmental review analysis and additional route alignment planning. Joint meetings with the Pitkin County planners will be held February 6 and 7. The Crested Butte Town Council will get an update on the project on February 6 while the county commissioners will get the overview on February 7.
