Letter: Start implementing traffic solutions

Are the inmates running the asylum? The City Council gets bogged down in insignificant matters while ignoring the critical issue of traffic congestion. The time has long passed to address the abominable traffic problems entering and leaving Aspen. The traffic delays resulting in hundreds of cars and trucks crawling into and out of town daily — resulting in excessive exhaust pollution, loss of productivity and extraordinary waste of time — must be addressed. It is time for the City Council and the Colorado Department of Transportation to get proactive on this urgent issue with creative solutions. I offer the following ideas for consideration: 1) Build a large parking garage outside town with continuous public transportation to and from town, which would keep many vehicles out of town and not circling in town looking for parking; 2) Expand the pedestrian-only streets to adjacent streets; 3) Widen Highway 82 to four lanes between Owl Creek Road and Main Street.

Paul Rudnick

Old Snowmass