Council considers Red Lady roundabout design proposals

“We’ll have to live with this a long time…”

By Mark Reaman

A year from now in the summer of 2026, there is a good chance major work will be happening at the south entrance to Crested Butte at Sixth Street and Red Lady Avenue as a new roundabout is built. 

The Crested Butte town council received a report from staff at the July 21 meeting and three primary designs are being considered. The first is a traditional five-leg circle roundabout. The second is an elongated peanut-shaped roundabout while the third is also peanut-shaped that includes feedback from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) that improves roundabout geometry and site lines.

Crested Butte public works director Shea Earley said while a lot of the details are not yet worked out, the circle design minimizes impacts on utilities in the area and private property. The peanut-shaped roundabouts have less impact on park space and improves pedestrian safety. The peanut-shaped roundabout that includes CDOT feedback better accommodates large truck and bus vehicles, has the best safety factors but more greatly impacts utilities in the area, specifically the electric infrastructure.

Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) chief operations officer John Stoeber said it is too early to know the financial impacts of any design but agreed both peanut designs would have significant impacts on the utilities. He said the main electric feed to the town would be impacted significantly during construction and indicated the impact could last weeks or months. 

Following up later, Stoeber explained that “It would be hard to determine the impacts to GCEA infrastructure until we see the final plans. This is when we will be able to determine what equipment can stay and what will need to be relocated. The main feeds into Crested Butte would have to be de-energized, if the equipment needs to be relocated,” he said. “This would require GCEA to use alternate feeds and widen our exposure to issues for potentially larger outages during the relocation process. We are going to be coordinating with the construction site to limit the time for the relocation. We are not sure how long the impacts could last, as this will be determined by the option that is chosen.” 

Gunnison Watershed School district superintendent Leslie Nichols said the district prefers the peanut-shaped roundabouts but has concerns over added expense from dealing with utilities. The school district is helping to pay for the roundabout given the current expansion taking place at the Crested Butte Community School campus.

Mayor Ian Billick said the council has been clear that pedestrian safety, especially with students walking to and from school, has been a main council priority with the Red Lady roundabout.

Nichols reminded the council that the district’s Safe Route to School program has directed students away from that intersection and to the Belleview and Sixth Street intersection. She said it has been very successful.

Councilmember Kent Cowherd expressed concern that having a stop sign at Belleview Avenue would back up traffic into the roundabout. “We all regularly see traffic backed up into that area and it appears the design moved the roundabout further north. I’m not sure it can be totally successful with that stop sign,” he said.

Earley said the roundabout consultants, Kimely Horn said the roundabout should be able to handle the traffic now and into the immediate future without traffic backup issues.

“I’m rather excited about the peanut-shaped roundabout,” said councilmember Anna Fenerty, who added she wanted feedback from Stepping Stones Children’s Center that would be impacted by the roundabout installation. And she wondered if public art would be placed inside the roundabout. Community development director Mel Yemma said the town would be soliciting public feedback on that element of the plan.

Councilmember Beth Goldstone expressed concern over the cost of moving utilities. Councilmember John O’Neal wanted to make sure the chosen design could handle expected growth in the next 20 years. Councilmember Gabi Prochaska wondered if one design over another would add not just money but time to construction.

“My two concerns are safety and enhancing pedestrian and bike mobility,” added councilmember Mallika Magner.

Resident Brian Fenerty lives in Red Lady Estates or as he called it, the “Red Lady off-ramp.” He said traffic has become over the top and he supports the roundabout with the hope it will mitigate traffic in that neighborhood.

Maria Fenerty agreed that speeding and traffic have gotten out of control and more and more people use that road to avoid traffic back-ups on Sixth Street. “I am excited about the peanut-shaped roundabout option,” she said. “I’d encourage council to remove the Belleview stop sign and stretch the peanut.”

“The entrance to town is critical,” summarized Billick. “Getting that right is important even if it ends up costing us a bit more. We will all have to live with this for a long time.”

Earley will gather more information and report back to the council before they officially determine which design councilmembers prefer. “We will move forward with the peanut as the “preferred” alternative but will continue to vet all three options as we evaluate the different variables at play (utility conflicts, pedestrian movements, vehicle movements and associated geometry, safety, park impacts, private property impacts, etc.)” he concluded. “Staff will have another council discussion once more info is available.”