Aspen seeks safety measures at pedestrian mall

Margaret Plumb, a senior associate with landscape architecture firm Design Workshop, referenced a series of public vehicle attacks in public areas around the world while presenting Aspen City Council with several potential updates to the Aspen pedestrian mall on Monday.

She referenced the July 2016 massacre in Nice, France, where 86 people were killed after a man drove into a crowded promenade on Bastille Day. A woman lost her life in August 2017 after she was struck by a vehicle driving through a white supremecist counter protest in Charlottesville. Eight people were killed when a man mowed down individuals on a bike path in Manhattan in October 2017. 

And, most recently, 14 died this past New Year’s Day, when a man drove his truck through crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

“We want to be pro-active and avoid such tragic events where vehicles intentionally entered pedestrian-only spaces and caused preventable tragedies and death,” Plumb said. 

The pedestrian mall safety options she and Michael Tunte, Aspen Parks and Open Space landscape architect and construction manager, presented to council would focus — at least at first — on the intersection of S. Mill Street and E. Hyman Avenue directly in front of the Wheeler Opera House. 

The first safety option presented to council was labeled as a way to “stay the course” of the safety measures already put in place during highly populated pedestrian events this past summer, like Food and Wine and 4th of July. The city installed removable meridian barriers, 3-foot high, metal rectangles designed to stop oncoming vehicles.

Plumb and Tunte suggested the city increase the number of barriers from six, used temporarily over the summer, to 14, placed at intervals of 4 feet where the pedestrian mall meets the intersection of E. Hyman Avenue and S. Mill Street.

Council members were mostly in favor of the second option suggested, placing 12 metal bollards — metal pillars about 3.5 feet in height and 10 inches in diameter — along the edge of the pedestrian area where the street meets the pedestrian mall. The bollards would be spaced at 5-foot intervals, with the four central bollards retractable to allow fire trucks to enter. 

The presenters predicted the implementation timeline for the bollards would be 18 to 24 months, with construction in 2027 and 2028. They predicted purchase and installment of the bollards to cost $920,000, and replacement of bollards to cost $120,000, between the fixed and retractable bollards. 

Plumb cautioned that the bollards would require deep foundations to ensure they have an acceptable “crash rating” to potential vehicle collisions, which could require rerouting of underground utility systems. 

Mayor Rachael Richards, Council member Cristine Benedetti, and Council member Bill Guth were in favor of pursuing the bollards option to “secure the perimeter” of that area of the pedestrian mall. 

“In terms of what we have money for, and (to) see how they work, I would have to go with number two,” Richards said of the bollard option, “and then we can take a bigger longer look about how we really redo the rest of this mall.”

The third safety option Plumb and Tunte presented to council also suggested the use of metal bollards  — or, alternatively, the use of crash resistant benches — to deflect potential vehicle threats but suggested their installment be in tandem with a larger pedestrian mall overhaul. 

With the overhaul, labeled “implement the vision,” the city would pursue a schematic design previously approved by council. Along with improved safety measures, the design addressed aging infrastructure like water, gas, telephone, electric, and stormwater systems and would improve the mall’s brick surface to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Council member Sam Rose suggested the city pursue the Meridian Barriers, or the bollards, if a larger mall overhaul is not yet the most dire problem facing Aspen and wait to pursue the more substantial mall update until it’s “necessary and needed.” 

Alternatively, Council member John Doyle supported the larger update to the mall’s infrastructure, citing it as a permanent solution to the mall’s problems. 

“I think since I’ve been on council, I’ve heard over and over again that there’s infrastructure issues that must be dealt with underneath the mall, like the whole mall — plumbing and electricity, it all needs to be updated,” Doyle said. “I just feel like we should be doing something permanent rather than temporary, that we’re going to then take out and implement the bigger plan later. I would rather see us go for it right now.”

City staff will use council’s feedback to construct a plan for the mall going forward.

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