This month, the Colorado Department of Transportation held a second round of open houses to inform the public about proposed improvements on Cottonwood Pass. The first was held March 22 in Glenwood Springs, and the second on March 23 in Gypsum.
The county road runs through Garfield and Eagle counties and connects the Roaring Fork Valley to Gypsum. In the Roaring Fork Valley, it starts at Catherine Store Road in Carbondale and goes through mountain terrain to end in Gypsum.
The state has identified fourteen sites— eight in Garfield and six in Eagle—along the partially paved road in the two counties as needing improvement. Those improvements include softening curves, improving driver sightlines, and widening both the road and its shoulders.
During the summer, it often serves as a de facto detour if I-70 closes in Glenwood Canyon. Neither Eagle County nor Garfield County maintain the road during the winter. According to CDOT, the proposed improvements won’t mean it’ll stay open year-round, but that could be a potential long-term goal if funding can be secured.
Karen Berdoulay is a CDOT engineer managing the project.
During the open house in Gypsum, she said most of the feedback has been positive, and that folks understand CDOT isn’t looking to change how the road is operated.
“Not necessarily putting in the smoothest curves that will lead to the fastest speeds, but really trying to balance still meeting the character of the overall roadway,” she said. “We are also just hearing concerns that people are worried that if we make the road too safe, that more cars will come, and cars will drive faster.”
Berdoulay said there are no plans to make Cottonwood Pass an official detour when I-70 closes in Glenwood canyon. CDOT recognizes this is a county road used mostly by locals, she said, and they want to keep it that way.
“We do realize that traffic volumes increase significantly on Cottonwood Pass when I-70 closes,” she said. “We are directing people to use the I-70 detours, but locals know this road, and we want to reduce those safety incidents so it can be more used by those locals when that happens.”
Berdoulay said the various sites can be completed at different times at the discretion of Eagle and Garfield counties as funds become available.
“They can be done independently,” she said. “We could do some of them, if the county decided, pretty quickly, even with [Eagle County] Road and Bridge. Some are pretty small projects.”
CDOT has some funds allocated for the improvements, but is mainly playing the role of consultant on this project, according to Berdoulay.
“Big picture, CDOT has defined around $4 million towards this project,” she said. “We’re spending about $1 million to support the county in this concept design, and right now, we're helping them to apply for grants for future construction.”
One of those grants is a federal RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) Grant. Berdoulay says it’s a competitive program, and funds aren’t guaranteed, but if the application is successful, it would bring $3.5 million to the project.
“Our goal at CDOT is to help the counties raise money, so that they can then design and construct any improvements,” Berdoulay said. “Really, this is a county project, and we’re just supporting them through this effort, and after this concept design, this is going totally back to the counties.”
Both the Eagle and Garfield county commissioners have agreed that the sites in Eagle County are higher priority, due to the number of accidents that occur there.
But Berdoulay said the Blue Hill site alone could cost up to $60 million total, due to the challenges of doing construction work on such a narrow and steep stretch of road, and would need to be completed in phases.
Residents can provide feedback on the project on CDOT's website.
