Council and public weigh in on summer transportation study

Look at all the options…

Two meetings have been held in the last month to discuss the focus of this summer’s Crested Butte Transportation Plan Study, and to help guide it. Both meetings ended with participants expecting some focus on solutions to traffic congestion and parking issues in town.

At a May work session, the Crested Butte Town Council discussed what it would like to see addressed in the upcoming study. They emphasized that whatever conclusions are reached, additional concrete and paving is not the preferred outcome.
A citizens’ meeting was held Wednesday, June 4 and, given the perfect weather, only about a half dozen of the 18 people who showed up were not associated somehow with local transportation. That group also voiced support for solutions that emphasized education over pavement, but the idea of a new parking structure played prominently in suggestions for the future.
Town planner Michael Yerman presented some history and a plan outline at both meetings that would focus on four key categories: traffic and cars; transit; parking; and bike, pedestrian and other multi-modal transportation.
A request for proposals has gone out in hopes of finding a qualified consultant soon. Yerman said the town staff would do some early information gathering, such as compiling the number of parking spaces and other hard facts. “We want the report to have some solutions and opportunities, some actionable items,” Yerman told the council.