As usual, Hal Sundin puts his finger on the major problems, in this case Highway 82 in Glenwood. Engineers are trained to do that. A number of options were raised before the design for the new Grand Avenue Bridge was finalized. Unfortunately, in democracies, politics is like water and follows the path of least resistance. The town council kicked the can down the street, knowing full well the traffic problem was rapidly getting worse. There is more development to the south, west and east and Glenwood is right in the middle of it.
A 10 minute look at the map reveals the options. Start with a new I-70 access to the west and a new Highway 82 access south of Holy Cross. Put a bypass between the two. The choices are the old DRGW rail right-of-way, Midland Avenue, or a tunnel through Red Mountain. Midland could stay as it is if an elevated roadway were built over it. Or buy up the property along Midland and make it the bypass.
This should be a toll road to produce the revenue to repay the construction cost. Tolls are now collected automatically through the mail, or a credit card on file. A rate structure would be necessary for commercial traffic, HOV, electric and emergency.
The tunnel might be about 5 miles in length. Very large boring machines make tunnels much more doable. Total cost: depending on the option, a few hundred million? What is it worth to get your town back?
Patrick Hunter
Carbondale
