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Thompson: Seems obvious

Eric Simon (“Let’s be practical about the entrance”) lays out the alternatives with the Castle Creek Bridge but makes the wrong choice.

The city freely admits that its straight-shot proposal would not improve traffic flow. It should also be conceded that the p.m. rush hour would be worse due to shifting the traffic light from Cemetery Lane to 7th and Main. Indeed, it is billed as an infrastructure improvement and not a traffic-management solution.

The straight-shot would: encourage more cars to drive into Aspen, divide the Marolt Open Space with a five-lane highway, disturb the wildlife corridor on the Castle Creek watershed, destroy neighborhoods in its path, irreparably harm a listed historic property, and cost somewhere near a quarter of a billion dollars to construct. 



In contrast, building a new, enlarged bridge at the existing location would not incur any of those defects. Coupled with already studied traffic-flow improvements, the outbound throughput from Main Street past the roundabout would be improved. 

With those facts, which way would you choose?




Brian Thompson

Aspen