Aspen’s new parking director seeks to cure congestion

With an Aspen estimation of 3,682 available parking spaces, and a 2023 average of 19,045 vehicles crossing Castle Creek Bridge daily, Blake Fitch has his work cut out for him.

After the city of Aspen announced on Tuesday that Fitch would step up from parking operations manager to director, he will pursue technology and collaboration to solve major congestion problems. 

“I don’t know if that (means) more bus service or just different types of parking regulations in different areas,” he said, “that’s all something we need to investigate and see where that takes us.”

Fitch, who is succeeding former director Pete Rice, said he hopes the parking department can implement an app that would allow drivers to find open parking in the city. 

“That’s the hope someday, and I think technology will get us there,” he said. 

He added that 2025 is the first year the city has lined all the spaces in Aspen’s downtown 16-by-16 square-block area, delineating where people can and cannot park. In the past, they only did so for a couple of blocks in the busiest part of the city. 

But people still park illegally given the challenging relationship between parking supply and driver demand. Aspen Police Department Sergeant Mike Tracey said there have been two instances in the past 10 days where Roaring Fork Transportation Authority buses struck illegally parked cars while driving their routes in downtown Aspen. 

Tracey estimated there are six to 10 collisions due to illegally parked cars per year.

“Sometimes, vehicles are just horribly parked, and the result is an accident from time-to-time,” Tracey said.

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To find solutions to parking challenges in Aspen, Fitch hopes to work alongside the Aspen Transportation Department and RFTA, promoting other modes of transportation. 

RFTA recently announced their “Zero Fair October & November,” a two-month free-ride pilot program this fall, hoping to increase their ridership and remove cars from the road. The Elected Officials Transportation Committee, the city of Aspen, and the city of Glenwood Springs have all vowed to fund the $550,000 needed to run the pilot.

RFTA Public Information Officer Jamie Tatsuno said they will monitor the pilot program to determine how effectively it increases ridership.

Fitch enters as director after 32 years working in parking for the city. He worked for 12 years at the Rio Grande Parking Garage, directly under city hall, before transitioning to parking operations manager for the next two decades. 

“It’s a logical choice, and I really appreciate Blake. He’s always upbeat; I think he’s a perfect fit,” Aspen City Council member John Doyle said. “In my experience with him, he’s really got an upbeat attitude, which I think is pretty important in the parking department.”

Doyle added that now is more important than ever to invest in alternative forms of transit and focus on removing single-occupancy vehicles from the road. 

“I think alternative forms of transportation are going to be increasingly important as we move forward,” he said. “I think as the West continues to dry up and heat up, we’re going to have more people moving to the high country, and we’re going to see increased traffic.”

He advocated for the return of a train system in the Roaring Fork Valley, starting at least with a rail from the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport to Aspen.

Along with Fitch, Lynn Rumbaugh will step up as the city’s transportation director.

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