Town driving toward Red Lady “peanut” roundabout

Snow removal a concern, art suggestions welcome

By Mark Reaman

The proposed Crested Butte roundabout at Sixth Street and Red Lady Avenue is starting to come into focus. The town council heard a presentation on the latest design and a public open house was held Tuesday evening to present it to the public. 

The “peanut” design will essentially combine two circle roundabouts to provide an intersection that combines both legs of Red Lady, Sixth Street and Seventh Street. It will also provide a right turn bypass onto Red Lady for easier access to the school for vehicles coming down the hill, have room for a gateway space that could include art and slow traffic down and increase pedestrian safety. The yield condition of the roundabout should also provide “platoon separation” as queues of vehicles enter town and prevent backups from Belleview. 

Discussions about how best to handle pedestrian crossings and snow plowing issues are ongoing.

In a report to the council, it was noted that staff is actively coordinating with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) “on snow removal planning for the roundabout. The goal is to develop a design that acknowledges Crested Butte’s winter season by ensuring that the required maintenance practices are efficient while preventing snow buildup in splitter islands, which could otherwise create visibility issues for pedestrians.”

Crested Butte public works director Shea Earley admits snow removal is something he thinks about…a lot. “I’m concerned about it,” he told the council at the September 15 meeting. “It is foremost in my mind, and we are cooperating with CDOT on the issue. We will be meeting with the CDOT operations staff next week to discuss it. A lot more discussions with CDOT will happen about snow maintenance.”

Earley said he has talked to Telluride officials about their roundabout and will pursue advice from other mountain towns with roundabouts to gather information on the issue.

Pedestrian priority

Pedestrian safety and connectivity are  major concerns of the council. Earley and consultant Adam Gomez of Kimley Horn explained how a roundabout is much safer for pedestrians than a typical intersection. Current draft pedestrian crossings would be located outside the roundabout at Seventh Street and Red Lady, and potentially one on the north side of the roundabout on Sixth Street. That likely depends on how planning of a pedestrian connection between the school and Big Mine Park pans out, which the town staff and consultants are also evaluating. 

“We are exploring more options to get (student) pedestrians from the roundabout to Big Mine Park safely,” said Earley. “That’s a big question.”

The current school Safe Route directs students from school, up Eighth Street to where they can access the walkway across the southern part of the town field to Belleview Avenue. From there, students cross through Town Park and across the Belleview intersection. 

The town’s transportation mobility plan and the council’s direction are to try to find a more comfortable pedestrian connection from this area to the Big Mine Park.

Gunnison School District superintendent Leslie Nichols said her preference is to keep students completely away from the roundabout intersection. “From the school’s perspective, we love the Safe Route for Schools,” she said. “It is the best it is going to be given the traffic situation in the area,” she said. “I would love zero crosswalks at the roundabout from the school’s point of view. Students are used to the Safe Route, and we don’t want to encourage pedestrian use at all at that intersection.”

Gomez said there were no plans to include crossings on the south side of the roundabout. “A roundabout addresses safety and speed control,” reiterated Gomez. “There are fewer conflict points between vehicles and pedestrians with a roundabout compared to a traditional intersection. The crossings will be located about 25 feet from the roundabout which gives drivers time to see pedestrians with good site lines.”

Gomez said vehicles would enter the roundabout going about 22 miles per hour and travel through it at about 17 miles per hour.

The council also asked staff to look at the western leg of Red Lady Avenue to see how it would potentially fit into the perimeter trail that is being looked at in the Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails plan.  

Roundabout issues

Councilmember Mallika Magner expressed concern about some people crossing directly through the roundabout or trying to get to the roundabout to take a photo of whatever art is located there. While that would officially be prohibited and signage would indicate that, Gomez said there is an education component to making roundabouts successful.

Gomez said the roundabout analysis indicates the roundabout should last about 40 years before reaching traffic capacity. 

“I’m still concerned with the Belleview stop sign,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd. “I am there a lot in the mornings and even today and at times when school is not in session, traffic would have been locked up into the roundabout from that stop sign.”

“We looked at the Elk Avenue, Belleview and Red Lady locations,” said Gomez. “The roundabout would break up the traffic. Separation is a natural impact of roundabouts. It gives a sense of displacement with those queues. It is certainly a concern in the future.” He said a “mini” roundabout could be considered in the future to help move traffic through the Belleview intersection. 

Councilmember Anna Fenerty said the council intention was not to push through traffic into residential neighborhoods on Seventh Street or Red Lady.

“We are consolidating three intersections into one and some people will choose those alternatives,” said Gomez.

Cowherd asked if pedestrian light signals could be used at the crosswalks and Gomez said while they aren’t required for single lane roundabouts like the one proposed, they could be added into the design.

Art project

As for the idea of placing art in the middle of the roundabout, community development director Mel Yemma said that was a very real possibility and the hope is to gather public feedback on the idea.

She outlined three preliminary concepts. The first was to display a town welcome sign with landscaping. The second idea was to move the chrome Knight and Dragon sculpture to the roundabout and perhaps add a welcome to Crested Butte sign and a Red Lady sculpture. The third idea was to solicit new art for the location. 

The council expressed an early preference for the chrome dragon and a Red Lady sculpture. Yemma said she expected the topic to motivate public suggestions.

“Can you imagine the epic townie takeovers that would happen at the roundabout?” she asked the council.

The consultant was awarded $300,000 for the design phase of the project. That will be split with the school district. A $2.2 million Safe Streets federal grant has been secured for construction, but a contract has not been secured.