{"id":2455141,"date":"2020-02-27T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/stoplight-repair-at-aspen-airport-intersection-may-take-weeks-or-months\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T05:40:00","slug":"stoplight-repair-at-aspen-airport-intersection-may-take-weeks-or-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/stoplight-repair-at-aspen-airport-intersection-may-take-weeks-or-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Stoplight repair at Aspen airport intersection may take weeks or months"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The stoplight pole that was damaged Feb. 5 by a city of Aspen snow truck remains on the side of Highway 82 just past the intersection for the Aspen airport. A highway crew looked at the pole late last week to determine if it could be re-used, but they won’t know until next week, officials said.<\/strong>
Jason Auslander \/ The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The toppled stoplight at Highway 82 and the Aspen Business Center can be repaired, though it might not be functional until as late as the end of this summer, an official said Thursday.<\/p>\n

That was the verdict after the results of an inspection of the stoplight pole and arm, which are lying by the side of the highway, indicated they can be reused and won\u2019t have to be replaced, which could have taken a year or more, said Elise Thatcher, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, the earliest we could have the signal back up and running could be when the ground thaws and as late as the end of summer,\u201d Thatcher said in an email Thursday to The Aspen Times.<\/p>\n

The stoplight controlling the upvalley lanes of Highway 82 was brought down in the early-morning hours of Feb. 5 by a city of Aspen dump truck<\/a>, which went through the intersection with its bed raised. The truck has just dropped a load of snow at the snow dump near Pitkin County\u2019s Public Works facility and was heading back to town.<\/p>\n

As a result, a far-smaller and less-visible temporary stoplight controls upvalley traffic at the ABC\/Aspen airport light. Besides that, the safety hazard is imposed on upvalley drivers who turn left into the ABC, said Brian Pettet, Pitkin County\u2019s public works director.<\/p>\n

Those drivers must now abide by a left-turn arrow located on the north, or ABC side, of the highway that is not immediately apparent because it\u2019s not in the spot on the stoplight arm a driver might normally look, he said. Those drivers must turn about 25 degrees to the left to see the arrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a concern,\u201d Pettet said. \u201cAlso (the temporary light) doesn\u2019t extend over the highway as far as the (normal light) so \u2026 it\u2019s inconsistent with other signals up and down 82. That could be a concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said 22,000 vehicles go through the intersection each day.<\/p>\n

Thatcher said CDOT officials have heard the safety concerns about the intersection and consider repairing the light to be a top priority.<\/p>\n

The possible extended timeframe for getting the repair done is because the dump truck hit the light with enough force to turn the concrete holding the stoplight pole in the ground and displace the electrical conduit going to the light, Thatcher has said.<\/p>\n

To repair it, CDOT will have to dig another hole for the pole\u2019s concrete footing, she said. However the location of that hole will be determined by the location of other utilities in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible we will have to locate the new hole further away from the existing one,\u201d Thatcher said. \u201cThat could create a scenario where the arm \u2026 is too short or too long. Either of those outcomes could create a delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reinstalling the light will cost more than $30,000, she said.<\/p>\n

Thatcher declined to comment on whether CDOT will file a claim against the city of Aspen to recoup the costs for the damage.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stoplight pole that was damaged Feb. 5 by a city of Aspen snow truck remains on the side of Highway 82 just past the intersection for the Aspen airport. A highway crew looked at the pole late last week to determine if it could be re-used, but they won’t know until next week, officials […]<\/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-2455141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 13:04:50","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'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\/2455141","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=2455141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}