Regional officials will discuss a variety of transportation issues and upcoming projects at an Elected Officials Transportation Committee meeting on April 6, including an improvement project at the Brush Creek Park and Ride and the possibility of direct summer service between Aspen and Snowmass Village.
The Aspen City Council and Snowmass Village Town Council were briefed on the projects at recent meetings and offered input ahead of the April 6 discussion. On Monday, Aspen council members said they appreciated the updates and the opportunity to discuss the upcoming issues before the EOTC meeting.
“It’s important for our board to be on the same page the same way other boards are on the same page,” said Councilwoman Rachel Richards.
The park-and-ride project is expected to begin on May 1, and will include new pavement, 200 new parking spaces, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and a portion of the bus turnaround lane. A food truck also will return to the park-and-ride lot this summer in an experimental capacity during construction.
While the work is underway, temporary parking will be available on the site as well as at the Buttermilk parking lot. Pete Rice, deputy city engineer, said communication to the public about the project is already underway via flyers and VMS signage.
“It’s going to be relatively easy to make the switch but it is a big impact on the commuters,” Rice said. “And events — events are going to be a big one, and so we’ll have to find the space allocation for them in those two areas, because it is a smaller area.”
Aspen Mayor Torre said the will be looking forward to hearing more information about the alternative parking plan at the EOTC meeting. He added that using the Buttermilk lot could present some good educational tools for the future.
“It’s a challenge that turns into an opportunity where we can learn a little bit more about this,” he said. “We’ve had conversations about the Buttermilk parking lot, and maybe some potential there.”
According to a memo, the original scope of the project also included paving of a carpool/bus turnaround aisle and restroom facilities, but after construction bids came in high in late 2022, the project was scaled back to include the parking space expansion described above and an access road. Construction is expected to be completed in September.
Council members also had questions about the Snowmass Regional Transit System Analysis, which included the discussion of direct summer service between Snowmass and Aspen. Currently in the summers, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority operates a shuttle between the Snowmass Mall and Brush Creek. This approach is operationally efficient, officials wrote in a memo, but it requires travelers to make a two-bus trip to Aspen, and the unreliability of travel times along the Highway 82 corridor means that they will have an unpredictable delay in making the connection.
Direct summer service would eliminate the necessary bus change at the Brush Creek Park and Ride. The bus would stop at the park and ride, but passengers could stay on the same bus. It would be less operationally efficient than the shuttle, the memo says, but it gives transit travelers between Aspen and Snowmass Village the chance for a one-seat ride with no unpredictable wait time at the park and ride.
Richards asked what the cost would be to start a new bus route and who would be responsible for paying it. She said she thought the money should come from the RFTA rather than Aspen or the EOTC.
“In the future, if looking for the EOTC contribution, then we should be looking at how we can improve the routes to Aspen and in Aspen and our extended neighborhoods as well,” she said.
The April 6 meeting will be hosted by Pitkin County in the Board of County Commissioners’ meeting room in Aspen. The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. A link is available in the meeting packet to allow the public to watch via Zoom.