Rio Grande Trail easement extended for additional 25 years
Easement initially created to allow for the eventual creation of passenger rail
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
An interim trail easement has been extended on the Rio Grande Trail, a popular cycling and walking trail in the Roaring Fork Valley. The interim easement is set to protect the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s ability to one day build a light rail on the trail.
The Pitkin County Commission on Wednesday, June. 25, unanimously approved extending the easement on the trail, which originally was the Denver Rio Grande Western Railroad, until 2050.
“I think that the reason we’re extending an interim trail easement after the trail has been on the ground now for 25 years is kind of fascinating,” said Dale Will, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Acquisition and Special Projects director. “It has to do with the rail bank status of the corridor and the desire of all parties to ensure that the feasibility of rail is not impaired by anything that’s done in the right of way.”
The original easement was established in 1997 with the intent for use as a passenger light rail by 2020. As long as rail was not established along the old railway, its use as a public trail could continue. If at any point its use as a walking trail impeded the establishment of light rail, the walking trail could be relocated within the 100- to 200-foot-wide easement.
“2020 came and went, and none of that happened,” said Will in the first hearing on the easement extension on June 11. “Meanwhile, the RFTA attorneys that work on the rails to trail status of the corridor concluded that they needed to simply extend that interim nature of the easement in order to maintain the theoretical viability of the corridor for renewed rail use.”
Pitkin County commissioners and staff joked that it was likely that a future Pitkin County Commission would be voting to extend the interim easement again in 2050.
“It’s something that nobody really paid attention to until it came up,” said Will. “In 25 years, you can do this again.”
Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman said earlier in June that RFTA vigorously maintains the right of way all the way to Glenwood Springs.
“It’s good to remind people that,” he said. “Someday that corridor may be needed for transportation of some sort — probably hovercraft.”
Let’s talk turkey: ACES partners with local farm for Thanksgiving dinners in Aspen
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies’ Rock Bottom Ranch is partnering with the Roaring Fork Valley’s Marigold Livestock Company to raise turkeys and process them for residents to use for Thanksgiving dinner.
