Aspen, Pitkin County waffle on Lumberyard entrance design

Aspen City Council and the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners on Monday deliberated the best way to solve congestion with major upvalley infrastructure projects on the horizon.

The discussion centered around the impending construction of the $360 million, 277-unit affordable housing project, the Lumberyard, to be built between 2026 and 2029 on the southern end of the Aspen Airport Business Center. Construction is also planned for the $575 million Aspen/Pitkin County Airport terminal and runway project between 2027 and 2029.

In the joint Monday meeting, select council members and commissioners raised concerns that the proposed entrance to the Lumberyard could be improved to decrease congestion, and that the entities hadn’t yet explored all of their options in the design process.

“I’m concerned about the disservice to the entire community, especially the commuting community going in either direction, if we aren’t doing the absolute best we can, our utmost, to understand this and work together on a solution that is optimal,” Council Member Greg Poschman said. “And I don’t know what the answer is.”

The Lumberyard includes three buildings on roughly 11 acres of land across Colorado Highway 82 from the airport. The current entrance design proposes blocking the existing southern entrance to the business center and directing cars to enter in the Lumberyard entrance, to be located roughly 600 feet south. Cars would then drive on the frontage road running alongside Highway 82 to access the rest of the business center. 

Aspen Mayor Rachael Richards suggested moving the existing Highway 82 traffic light — located at the intersection of the highway and Baltic Avenue — to the area of the highway in front of Colorado Mountain College. That would increase the distance between the existing light and the Highway 82 traffic light proposed in the Lumberyard design at the entrance to the complex.

Richards noted, however, that the county heard “tremendous push back” from Roxy’s Market & Deli and Conoco, both located on the business center’s main street, in previous discussions regarding the removal of the traffic light.

What’s happening in Aspen, in one click.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters AspenTimes.com/newsletter

Council Member Sam Rose suggested installing a traffic underpass from the business center to the airport in the location of the existing southern entrance to the center, saying an underpass would be valuable to link the two major projects.

He also mentioned the possibility of installing a grade separated interchange, an engineering system to route roads over and under one another, as well as a roundabout at the entrance. 

“Our transportation engineer did a very rough ‘fit test,’ … (for) a roundabout and a grade separated interchange,” Chris Everson, Aspen’s affordable housing project manager, told the two government entities. “And there’s no room for it.”

Everson added that their transportation engineers said they didn’t think a roundabout would solve “any of the problems” related to traffic counts, due to the existing backup on the highway. 

The government entities didn’t give specific direction to staff, instead deciding to convene separately so they could provide clearer direction on how to improve congestion surrounding the projects.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.