Lagarrigue: Aspen needs to fix the commute

I recently found myself sitting on the bus from Rubey Park to Burlingame, and a trip that would’ve normally been sub-15 minutes was dragged out into an hour-long ride. If a little bit of snow can congest traffic on the bridge this much, it’s obvious that the Aspen City Council needs to take action.

Pushing back the ballot question for a Castle Creek bridge alternative is no longer working for the people who live and work in this community, and whatever the results of the inspection on the bridge by CDOT, we need to find a solution. Growing up here and being able to see how traffic has grown worse over the years with no action taken from our community leaders is definitely disheartening.

I encourage everyone to speak out with their experience regarding getting in and out of traffic and to look to the letters written by Tom Mooney and David Foster for some guidance on the underlying issues behind the city council’s indecision.

Despite any political or ideological differences people may have, locals to the valley that commute to Aspen should all be able to recognize that we are being put through the wringer for an issue that should’ve been solved 30 years ago, forced to drive over a bridge that’s years out of date, and sitting in traffic that could be avoided if people actually made the decisions that needed to be made.

Vicente Lagarrigue

Aspen