Brush Creek underpass delay could impact Whetstone timing

Searching for safe transit alternatives for residents

by Mark Reaman

A major kink in the Whetstone Community Housing project will postpone work on the Brush Creek roundabout and underpass so neither will be done this year before the snow flies. That could set off a series of ramifications that will either make occupancy of the units delayed or possibly more expensive as safety concerns emerge about occupants being able to access the RTA bus on both sides of Highway 135.

Last week the commissioners empowered county manager Matthew Birnie to finalize acquisition of some property critical to the roundabout. That was a separate kink caused in part by some lien issues that are expected to be resolved but have been slow going given government shutdowns and staffing reductions at the federal level. The other issue in that realm was having to adhere and readjust to some new process protocols given a federal Safe Streets for All grant that is involved in the land purchase.

But Gunnison County assistant manager for operations and sustainability John Cattles said that property issue wasn’t the primary bottleneck.

“The hold-up is caused by a long list of bureaucratic processes to meet the requirements of both federal and Colorado Departments of Transportation,” he explained. “Many of those processes had to be accomplished in sequence and approved before we could move on and submit on the next step. The acquisition of property has been part of that process but isn’t the cause of the current schedule. It’s really just the combination of many steps over a long period of time, many of which took a bit longer than we planned. CDOT has been working with us since May to do reviews of the various requirements in parallel, which we appreciate, but we still won’t make it before winter.”

The delayed underpass issue came up at the July 20 Crested Butte town council meeting. Under the agreement between the town and county, the underpass below Highway 135 near Brush Creek needs to be useable before the town will turn on the water supply coming from Crested Butte.

Crested Butte town manager Dara MacDonald told the council that Gunnison County representatives contacted the town to inform them the earliest the county can go to bid for the work is October, which doesn’t leave time to complete the project before the ski season. “The county will probably come to council and ask the town to allow occupation of the units with a safe alternative to the underpass,” she said.

“I would encourage the discussion and see what they have to offer,” said mayor Ian Billick.

In response to a question about potential alternatives, Cattles said this week in an email that the county wasn’t yet prepared to make potential alternatives public. “What I can say is that we have options that will provide an opportunity for residents to access bus services without crossing the highway, but the options are still being worked out at this point,” he said. “As for the cost, the (Whetstone) project is currently tracking to have units ready a couple of months earlier than we anticipated in our budgeting so we will have early revenue to pay for an alternative without any impact to the project financials or resident expenses.”

Even with the recent delays, the county expects the roundabout and underpass to be complete during the 2027 summer building season. But if the units had to remain vacant until then, it would be costly.

“If we had to delay occupancy on all units until that time, it would likely cost more than a million dollars — or even significantly more — to the project,” Cattles said. “The exact number is hard to predict, because attempting to lease up that many units at once, rather than spreading lease-up out over several months, would take longer and ultimately impact the project’s revenues. This is obviously a very undesirable scenario.”

And for Cattles and the county, it’s not just about the financials, it’s about the workers living in the community. “The best thing for the community would be to be able to house people as soon as possible. Our community is still in a housing crisis which is why the county is working hard on Whetstone and why Crested Butte still has a declared housing emergency and is also working hard on community housing. I know for those of us with stable housing it isn’t always top of mind, but it’s all-consuming for folks that need a home and for businesses that rely on those folks. We hear from people nearly every day at the Housing Authority that are living in a state of emergency because they can’t find housing or are about to lose the housing they currently have.

“The human toll of a delay might not be easy to measure,” Cattles continued. “But we’re determined to make sure people can live in the new units at Whetstone as soon as they’re ready and we’re committed to making sure that when they do move in, they have safe access to transportation until the permanent plan with the underpass is complete. We’re confident that the town wants the same thing and are working with us to figure out a solution.”

Cattles said the number of early units that might be ready for winter isn’t yet known.