{"id":2454338,"date":"2020-02-09T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline\/"},"modified":"2020-02-10T08:22:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T15:22:16","slug":"traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic levels into Aspen on the decline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"5.7272727272727\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-320645-565\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-1-1024x684.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times | Commuters drive over Castle Creek Bridge on Friday evening.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Commuters drive over Castle Creek Bridge on Friday evening.<\/strong><br \/>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-1-1024x684.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Commuters drive over Castle Creek Bridge on Friday evening.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-1024x363.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"trafficlevels-atd-021020-1 | \" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong><\/strong><br \/>trafficlevels-atd-021020-1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/trafficlevels-atd-021020-1-1024x363.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">While it may not seem like it, traffic levels into and out of Aspen are declining, and 2019 was no exception.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Last year\u2019s traffic counts were below the 1993 target <a id=\"N0x1f16b40N0x20b8520:N0x1f16b40N0x2066ac8\" href=\"https:\/\/d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net\/cityofaspen\/8c786820-3c66-11ea-9ca4-0050569183fa-da76106a-2e02-4fe6-bbb2-ae71e53e957b-1579806779.pdf\">levels by 10.9%<\/a>, according to John Krueger, the city\u2019s director of transportation. And there has been a downward trend since 2015 \u2014 almost 5% overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The average number of cars coming into and out of town on a daily basis in 2019 was 21,105; 7.7 million trips for the whole year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat\u2019s why we have backups,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cEven if the average goes down, it still feels bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He added that to have free-flowing traffic in the S-curves, only 800 cars can pass through with little delay or congestion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Far more than that pass through during peak times in the morning and evening during high season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Offseason months are when free-flowing traffic moves through the S-curves, but it\u2019s not reasonable to think that is a goal that\u2019s achievable year round, Krueger noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe free-flow condition is the month of May, but if every month was like May that would probably be bad,\u201d he said in reference to the local economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city has maintained a traffic counter at Cemetery Lane and the Castle Creek Bridge since 1999.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Krueger said when traffic was the worst in 2004 and 2005, peak volumes were as high as 1,200 vehicles per hour, resulting in long delays on Main Street, and gridlock on streets in the West End and Power Plant Road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">During those years, there were nine months in which traffic levels went beyond the 1993 target year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The monthly average of 23,675 is the key number and was adopted by the community as the target not to exceed. It also was adopted in the <a id=\"N0x1f16b40N0x20b8580:N0x1f16b40N0x20670f8\" href=\"https:\/\/aspenairport.com\/sites\/default\/files\/downloads\/Aspen%20Area%20Community%20Plan%202012.pdf\">Aspen Area Community Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Some months have been higher or lower than the 1993 levels but the annual average has remained lower than the target for two decades, according to Krueger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">There have been 25 months in the past 20 years when that threshold was passed, and most of them occurred before 2007.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, it\u2019s an accomplishment in an era and in a state where traffic levels are on the rise in most communities, Krueger said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been successful in maintaining \u2014 not solving \u2014 the traffic levels and we are not going up, so that is something,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s led to cleaner air and less carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city has been able to curb traffic levels because of its multimillion-dollar investment in transit alternatives like the free Downtowner, the bike-share program <a id=\"N0x1f16b40N0x20b85e0:N0x1f16b40N0x2067458\" href=\"https:\/\/www.we-cycle.org\/\">WeCycle<\/a>, in-town buses and the car-sharing program Car to Go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city\u2019s increase in paid parking also has deterred people from driving into town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On a regional level, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority\u2019s BRT system established in 2013 has increased bus ridership, and more people are using the Brush Creek Park and Ride.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city\u2019s share of Pitkin County\u2019s 1% transit tax is budgeted to generate $5 million this year. That goes toward the free buses in town, according to Krueger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">About $1.5 million comes from paid parking revenue, which also pays for transit services, as does contributions from the city\u2019s sales, lodging and use taxes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The <a id=\"N0x1f16b40N0x20b8640:N0x1f16b40N0x20677b8\" href=\"https:\/\/d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net\/cityofaspen\/7eb08dfb-4841-11ea-9ca4-0050569183fa-da76106a-2e02-4fe6-bbb2-ae71e53e957b-1581029479.pdf\">Downtowner<\/a> costs the city $540,000 a year; WeCycle is a $130,000 subsidy; the <a id=\"N0x1f16b40N0x20b86a0:N0x1f16b40N0x2067848\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityofaspen.com\/221\/Car-To-Go\">Car to Go<\/a> program costs $80,000 annually; and the late-night taxi service during offseason is $20,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe job is to give people options to get out of their car,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cNone of these things are massive but they all help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere\u2019s no silver bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Krueger added that based off of other communities around the state that he has visited in his capacity as director of transportation, Aspen is a leader in this realm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are the model,\u201d he said. \u201cMost communities don\u2019t have what we have. \u2026 They wish they had even one of our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:csackariason@aspentimes.com\">csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/traffic-levels-into-aspen-on-the-decline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commuters drive over Castle Creek Bridge on Friday evening.Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times trafficlevels-atd-021020-1 Show CaptionsHide Captions While it may not seem like it, traffic levels into and out of Aspen are declining, and 2019 was no exception. Last year\u2019s traffic counts were below the 1993 target levels by 10.9%, according to John Krueger, the city\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 16:32:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454350,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454338\/revisions\/2454350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}