The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Local group assigned to figure out long and short-term solutions to delivery
By Cayla Vidmar
The new delivery system for Mt. Crested Butte base area businesses, which has delivery trucks utilizing a space in the Mountaineer Square Bus Loop, is proving to be difficult to manage, so a task force of area stakeholders has been assembled to figure out short- and long-term solutions. The new system was implemented this summer.
Delivery in this area has been a long-term struggle. The struggle started in 2005, when Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s (CBMR) Cimarron Building, which was slated for construction where the current adventure park is located, complete with a loading dock, was not built due to the economic downturn, according to Mt. Crested Butte community development director Carlos Velado.
“This lack of a loading dock has created delivery issues for the Town as delivery services use the end of Emmons [Road] for their loading and unloading,” Velado explained via email. “The problem is compounded with the use of Emmons Road as a drop-off area for our visitors to the base area. When construction began for the Adaptive Sports Center’s Kelsey Wright Building in the base area, this delivery area at the end of Emmons Road was cut off.”
According to Velado, a task group has been put together to try to figure out long- and short-term solutions to the delivery and drop-off issues at the end of Emmons Road. In the interim, the town has created a delivery zone in the transit center. “The idea is for the various delivery services to use the designated area for their deliveries,” said Velado.
This short-term solution has been causing some headaches, and Velado writes, “The biggest matter we are dealing with is educating the delivery drivers on the new system, i.e., where to park, where not to park, how to park.”
Velado admitted, “There have been complications for the Mountain Express and RTA bus services when the delivery area is not used properly.”
Mountain Express transit manager Chris Larsen echoes those struggles. “There have been issues—delivery trucks are supposed to use the designated space to park and if that space is taken they should leave the transit center and park somewhere else until the space is available,” Larsen said. “Some do but most will find a different space to park and unload.”
Larsen recounts a particular incident where a truck that was delivering to the Lodge at Mountaineer Square blocked the entrance to the bus loop, preventing bus access to the entire transit center.
The task group—which is comprised of members from the Mt. Crested Butte Planning Commission, the Town Council, the Mt. Crested Butte police, the Crested Butte Fire Protection District, the Adaptive Sports Center, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Mountain Express, the RTA, and other base area stakeholders—is developing additional solutions and addressing misuse of the Emmons Road drop-off. Velado also states that the Downtown Development Authority is currently exploring options for skier drop-off north of the Grand Lodge.
Until solutions are found, Larsen believes that in all likelihood, the transit center delivery will continue into the winter.
