Brush Creek Road re-opens in Snowmass Village, Kearns Road culvert still under construction

The Town of Snowmass Village celebrated the re-opening of Brush Creek Road on Friday after six months of construction at its intersection with Owl Creek Road to address the aging culvert below the road.

Brush Creek Road closed May 15 to begin construction on the metal pipe that carried Brush Creek below the road since the 1960s, which began showing signs of failure during the summer of 2022. The completed project is an improved culvert structure that allows Brush Creek to flow underneath the road without eroding adjacent infrastructure. It also includes a pathway designed to connect existing trails, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to travel underneath the road.

“Really what we wanted to do was improve the assets for our community,” said Snowmass Mayor Bill Madsen at a Brush Creek ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday. “We want to make sure that we’re continually investing in our infrastructure.”

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The project cost $4.88 million and was set to complete in early November. The road officially re-opened Nov. 6. 

The Brush Creek culvert project was part of a larger improvements project in Snowmass, which is working to connect roadways, natural elements, trails, and more. While the construction of the culvert was underway over the summer, Snowmass began another culvert construction project less than a mile up the road.

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In June, the culvert carrying Brush Creek below lower Kearns Road failed and produced a large sinkhole in the area. The town began emergency construction in August to address the failed section of the culvert and roadway reconstruction.

The first phase of the lower Kearns Road construction will finish in December, Snowmass Public Works Director Anne Martens said. When construction began in August, the town re-aligned the road to allow two-way traffic while construction was underway on the west side of the road. In January, construction will begin on the east side of the road, and traffic will again be reconfigured to allow for two-way traffic, she said.

She expects the lower Kearns Road project to be completed by May 2024.

Snowmass typically does not start construction projects in the winter, she said. But the town is gearing up for a waterline project with the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District and two infrastructure projects with Black Hills Energy at Highline Road and Upper Brush Creek Road, she said.