Questioning the philosophy behind the CB transit plan

Is town heading down the right road with roundabouts and traffic lights?

The first of two public meetings held last week on developing a transportation plan for Crested Butte ended in a philosophical discussion: If a community wants to be known as someplace that is different, don’t you have to do things that are different? Don’t you have to make choices that are different from the standard options?

The questions arose from some meeting participants as the rollout of long-term solutions to projected traffic and parking issues included ideas like roundabouts at the Four-way Stop and at the Red Lady Avenue-Highway 135 intersection. A traffic light was proposed for the future at the Four-way. A parking structure was on the list as well but a $7 million price tag seemed to realistically eliminate that option.
“We need to preserve the special attributes of Crested Butte,” said resident Skip Berkshire. “These suggestions are accommodation solutions. It is more important to get people out of their cars as opposed to encouraging them to use their vehicles more. Discouraging cars is more important.
“We have the opportunity to pursue traditional accommodation or to try something really bold,” Berkshire continued. “Doing something bold is better. Bold cultural solutions are better than traditional options.”
“Implementing social change is a better way,” agreed town planner Michael Yerman, “and those types of changes are cheaper. But like it or not, Highway 135 is the connection to the rest of the world. And this is a tourist community. People drive here in the summer.”
Berkshire had no specific ideas on how to address a growing traffic volume, but he cited the beauty of Zermatt, Switzerland, where cars are parked 20 miles from the community and tourists are transported to the town. “I know we won’t be a Zermatt where cars are not allowed, but we should try to reflect that culture. The core objection to a final plan that has these types of standard traffic solutions will be the accommodation of traffic to the detriment of the quality of life for the people who live here.”
“I am hearing these guys say that people aren’t being given options for things like neighborhood parking passes and traffic demand management,” said Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “If you want to keep being a place that is different from other places, you have to do things that are different.”
Gillie loosely defined traffic demand management as using a combination of incentives and penalties to guide the traffic situation in town. The goal would be to get people to use alternative forms of transportation. Employers could encourage workers to use a bus instead of driving to work. They might provide an opportunity for workers to shower at work so people could ride their bikes to work in the summer.
“We don’t want to go down the road where we are exactly like every place else and people stop coming here,” said Berkshire.
Yerman and the town’s traffic consultant Ted Ritschard presented various proposals to deal with expected traffic increases coming to Crested Butte. Traffic counts were taken for three days last summer around the Art’s Festival weekend and it was determined that about 10,000 cars a day came into town from Highway 135. The counts showed that the vast majority of those continued through town toward Mt. Crested Butte. Another 700 vehicles per day came into town from Kebler Pass. Those numbers are expected to increase about 27-percent in the next couple of decades so that more than 13,000 vehicles a day could be expected to enter town from Highway 135.
“The current roadways generally handle the traffic and will do so for awhile,” explained Ritschard. “Around 2022, the numbers indicate, the delays at the Four-way and the left turn off Red Lady onto the highway may get to a place where work is needed.”
Based on public feedback from past meetings, Yerman said the four basic goals the new transportation plan should keep in mind are: the town should retain a pedestrian and bike-friendly attitude; people should have access to free and reliable public transportation; free parking should remain in Crested Butte to allow easy access to public transportation; and the town should continue as a hub for the surrounding trails.
Yerman said Elk Avenue congestion appears to be a priority among residents. He said finding enough parking places for vehicles in the busy summer is a concern as well and the side streets are beginning to really feel the brunt of the issue.
So the major projects being included in the new plan range from a traffic light to a couple of roundabouts to widening the highway for a turning lane into the school on Red Lady Avenue. The least expensive of the major alternatives are the stop light at the Four-way Stop ($300,000) and the widening of the highway for a new turn lane ($400,000) at the entrance to town. The more expensive proposals include a new road coming off the hill above the gravel pit and going to the school ($1.5 million), a roundabout at Red Lady and Highway 135 ($1.2 million), and a roundabout at the Four-way Stop ($1 million).
“Our analysis is that a roundabout would handle the foreseeable traffic easily,” said Ritschard.
Funding any of the projects won’t be easy. The town mill levy has been approved for 16 mills but is set at just over eight. Raising that property tax could generate a lot of funds but the town staff is concerned about the impact on local business property with any such increase.
Local resident and architect Jennifer Hartman said based on her experience working in Avon, Colo., roundabouts presented safety issues.
Ritschard said newer engineering has made roundabouts more safe; people in places that have recently built roundabouts, such as in Telluride, like them a lot.
Yerman said while a parking structure at the Four-way Stop has been discussed for years, there are issues that come with it. “The price tag is expensive,” he said. “A 300-space facility would be six or seven million dollars and that’s before BOZAR looks at it and requires changes to make it fit better than a concrete box. Plus, where would you burn the Grump at Vinotok if you built a structure there?”
Yerman said by paving some of the current parking lots, more spaces could be delineated. Better signage directing tourists to those lots could be effective. Expanding public bus service—as is happening this winter to Crested Butte South—would have a positive effect. Another more controversial proposal is to put a traffic bridge on Butte or Gothic Avenue for traffic heading into the northwest quadrant of town. That could alleviate some Elk Avenue traffic from residents but comes with a hefty $750,000 to $1 million price tag.
“Solutions that accommodate traffic only increase traffic,” emphasized Berkshire. “There is also the issue of quality of traffic versus the quantity of traffic. Why are people driving? Does the post office in the middle of town attract people driving from Mt. Crested Butte? The post office is a big deal.”
A poll of last week’s meeting participants was taken and Yerman will incorporate suggestions into his working draft. The relatively small sampling from the public indicates that few want to see major changes at Elk and Sixth.
The Red Lady intersection is seen as a priority and the feeling right now is to pursue less expensive changes such as tighter enforcement of two-hour parking on Elk Avenue; expanding and improving the public parking lots; and putting in more signage to direct people to those lots. Sidewalk and trail expansion also are getting a thumbs-up, as is requiring special events to utilize the school parking area as an intercept lot.
A more complete draft transportation plan will be presented to the public in January. Everyone interested in the town’s transportation plan can stop by and view the design options and offer feedback. Yerman is looking to complete the new plan next year and then begin the process of moving toward recommendations, since it could take several years to get approval and funding assistance for any of the proposals.