Draft Purpose and Need

The purpose of the South Bridge project is to provide a critical second route between SH 82 and the western side of the Roaring Fork River in the southern portion of Glenwood Springs. This new access would provide for improved transportation access to land uses as well as provide emergency evacuation and emergency services such as public safety and medical calls. This second route would respond to the congressional earmark for the Glenwood Springs South Bridge (new, off system bridge), Public Law 109-59, 109th Congress.

The following project needs for the South Bridge project are based on identified transportation problems:

• General transportation access to the west side of the Roaring Fork River in southwestern Glenwood Springs is constrained and becoming congested. Planned growth in this area is bringing an increasing demand for reasonable access. There are increasingly long travel times to and from this area with the limited existing capacity along Midland Avenue and out-of-direction travel to points south along SH 82.
• Emergency evacuation capacity and redundancy of the area located on the west side of the Roaring Fork River in southwestern Glenwood Springs is limited. Evacuation needs include emergency vehicle ingress at the same time as evacuation egress. Further, the limited redundancy affects emergency service provider access to land uses in this area resulting in longer response times The lack of a secondary route to provide redundancy also increases the likelihood of a catastrophic occurrence where residents and visitors could be stranded if the single existing primary access route is cut off.

Draft Project Goals

1. Minimize environmental impacts to scenic, aesthetic, historic, and natural resources
2. Provide an improvement that preserves community cohesion and neighborhood integrity
3. Provide a practical and financially realistic improvement
4. Minimize private property impacts
5. Safely accommodate traffic on area roadways
6. Provide an improvement that is consistent with local plans, regional plans,
   and current studies
7. Provide a design that encourages multi-modal travel and does not preclude future
   multi-modal improvements in the study area

Maps

Link to Regional Map[PDF]

Link to Project Vicinity Map[PDF]

Jump to the February 7, 2008 Meeting Materials for more background information
about the project.