FAQ
About the Straight Shot, aka the “Preferred" Alternative
Ballots for the city election drop on February 10 when Aspen has two critical questions to decide: Referendum 1 and Referendum 2.
Both questions frame the much bigger questions:
Who decides Aspen’s entrance and, with it, Aspen’s small town character?
The people of Aspen? Or the state highway department?”
What’s the City of Aspen proposing for the Entrance to Aspen?
Aspen City staff has pulled a 35-year-old plan off the shelf to reroute Highway 82 across the Marolt Open Space to connect directly with Wet Main Street. In CDOT lingo it’s the “Preferred Alternative,” referring to CDOT’s 1990s design process that produced this plan. With one lane in, one lane out for cars, the Straight Shot/PA would add new new bus-only lanes and a new red light at the Hickory House.
Jacobs Engineering Memorandum to City of Aspen, July 31, 2024, Figure 2, at p. 3
City staff once claimed that the only way to replace the old Castle Creek Bridge is to build the Straight Shot, a 5-lane freeway through the Marolt and Thomas Open Spaces with a new bridge across Castle Creek adjoining Main Street. In other words, the Straight Shot is an “infrastructure plan” not a “traffic improvement” plan.
In 2023, City Council concluded that the Straight Shot did not improve traffic back ups and pushed back on the idea of building the Straight Shot solely as a means of replacing the old C
Castle Creek Bridge. Council hired Jacobs Engineering to evaluate both the old bridge and options for replacing it.
Jacobs concluded that the old Castle Creek Bride could be rebuilt faster, better and cheaper with three lanes, keeping two lanes open through “every phase of construction” with “minimal traffic disruption."
City Council has now begun a new highway design process, beginning with an Environmental Impact Statement that is now underway.
Does the City or CDOT already have the right to build a freeway across community Open Space?
Not as proposed. CDOT holds a 2002 easement to build a “two-lane parkway and light rail corridor” and “for no other purpose”. CDOT would need voter approval from the people of Aspen for two bus-only lanes, which has not been granted. Aspen voters rejected a ballot question in 2001 to substitute bus-only lanes for a light rail corridor across Marolt Open Space.
What exactly is the “Preferred Alternative”?
CDOT’s “Preferred Alternative” is a 1998 plan to realign Highway 82 with a 5-lane freeway including light rail corridor (the fifth lane) running from the Aspen Roundabout across the Marolt and Thomas Open Space.
Still just one lane in, one lane out for cars and trucks
Adds two new bus-only lanes
Includes a 400 cut + cover” tunnel under Marolt Open Space to preserve the Marolt Meadow
Converts the old 82 roadbed running between the roundabout and Cemetery Lane to open space, forcing all Cemetery Lane cars to turn left into town before they can proceed to the roundabout and down valley.
Adds a new red light at Hickory House that stacks cars down Main Street and encourages more cars to sneak through the West End and West Hopkins Street.
Is the “Preferred Alternative” the same thing as the “Straight Shot”?
Yes. Over the years, versions of this plan have been popularly called the “Straight Shot” and more bureaucratically the “Modified Direct”, because the new Highway 82 would bypass the S-curves at the Entrance to Aspen.
Why 5 lanes?
There are 2 car lanes, 2 bus lanes and one 28-foot corridor (the fifth lane) for possible future light rail that now costs a prohibitive $1 billion. The current, supersized straight shot is a 130’ right of way and 122’ of asphalt across the entire length of the Marolt Open Space.
Have Aspenites voted on the Preferred Alternative?
Yes, and both times it was rejected. In 2001, the City asked voters for permission to build the Preferred Alternative with 2 lanes for cars and 2 bus-only lanes substituting for the light rail corridor. The ballot question was defeated, 53% to 47%. In two more ballot questions, in 2001, voters chose the S-curves over the Straight Shot in both the City and the County, 53% to 46%.
What about the 400-foot cut and cover tunnel, does it stay?
The City has abandoned its commitment to build a 400' cut and cover tunnel as required by voters in 1996 and required by the CDOT Record of Decision. The City is now proposing a curved, mound-like “land bridge” overpass that is shorter in length and does not preserve the Marolt Meadow. Aspen voters have not approved this significant change.
The cut and cover tunnel is an important part of the original plan. The length of “at least 400 feet" slows traffic and maintains the Marolt Meadow, allowing the popular open space and recreation area to be partially restored.
But if CDOT has approved the Preferred Alternative, isn’t it a done deal?
No. Both the 1996 ballot question and the Aspen City Charter require another vote to approve bus lanes as a part of the Straight Shot and to approve the final highway design. If Referendum 2 passes, it will be the last vote the people of Aspen have on the final design of the city entrance. Referendum 2 grants a permanent, “blank check” easement to CDOT to build a highway over any part of the 80 acre Marolt and Thomas open spaces, stripping away all the conditions imposed by Aspen voters in 1996.
What would happen to the existing Castle Creek Bridge if the Straight Shot is built?
If the Straight Shot is built, the old Castle Creek bridge would become a city street that must be maintained and rebuilt at the City’s cost. No one believes CDOT will pay for both the Straight Shot and a new Castle Creek Bridge.
How the Straight Shot will change life in Aspen…in and out of the car
Won’t the Straight Shot across the Marolt Open Space make it easier to get in and out of town?
No. The Straight Shot does not add any new lanes for cars and trucks. The City concedes that it offers no improvement to traffic back ups. The big question is: how much worse will traffic be with the Straight Shot? In the mornings, all traffic coming into town via Cemetery Lane (McClain Flats and beyond) will be routed into town, to the new Hickory House red light, and back out across the Straight Shot to the roundabout. This adds hundreds of cars into the morning back up, many families taking the kids to local schools. In the afternoon, the new red light at Hickory House would back up more cars down Main Street as far as the core. This can only result in more cars “sneaking” through the West End and even down West Hopkins Street. Why?
The Straight Shot adds no new lanes for cars and trucks, it’s still one lane in, one lane out. The City concedes that traffic flows will not improve.
Two new lanes are added but for exclusive bus use, just like the bus-only lanes between Buttermilk and the roundabout.
A new red light is added at Hickory House that requires traffic to stop on both on the new bridge and on Main Street.
How will the West End be affected by the Straight Shot?
A new red light at Hickory House will back up traffic down main, encouraging more cars to sneak through the West End. And it would create a “second sneak” down West Hopkins Street to access the new red light from the south side of Main Street.