Focus, Aspen council

Our elected hamsters now want further study of traffic conditions. Churning in place on the hamster wheel of indecision (or is it just incompetence), they are incapable of confronting what is plainly evident — Aspen is choked, it will only get worse, and it needs to be fixed now.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, which is a penchant around City Hall, here are three “old” ideas, which if combined could have a synergistic effect and be transformative.

1. Make the central core a car-free zone. This has been studied to death by the city including more malls, using alleys for commercial vehicles, etc.

2. Build a large parking garage at the edge. Such was proposed under Wagner Park years ago by Mark Hunt as a means of mitigation.

3. Widen Castle Creek bridge to have a third and reversible lane. The concept was mentioned in a citizens’ study 20 years ago.

Smooth traffic flow, funnel it to central parking and open up the core to people. Is there any chance that City Council can grasp and execute a plan like that at a systematic level, or will they remain like hamsters seeking only more study, i.e., kibble?

Neil B. Siegel

Aspen