Colorado lawmakers set aside $2 billion for road projects. But where will the money actually come from?

#Colorado

Summit Daily News

Summit Daily News Link

Summit County transportation officials finished a big, wish-list item this week with the Highway 9 Iron Springs bypass, a two-year, $23 million project hailed as a boon to safety and traffic flow between Breckenridge and Frisco.

The project was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak outlook for Colorado's roads, which have a $9 billion project backlog. But the crowning touch on Iron Springs, expanding the two-lane stretch of highway between Frisco and the hospital, is in funding limbo, along with the county's other big projects.

Those include an extra eastbound lane on Interstate 70 between Frisco and Silverthorne, overhauls of the Exit 203 and 205 interchanges and extra lanes on Vail Pass. An enormous, wide-ranging bill signed into law in May, the Sustainability of Rural Colorado Act, was supposed to provide nearly $2 billion for projects like those, with 25 percent of the money reserved for rural counties.

But six months later, no projects have been selected under the Senate Bill 267's convoluted funding scheme, which shuffles around badly needed funds without providing the cash infusion road officials had hoped for.

"It's not what anybody really needed," assistant Summit County manager Thad Noll said. "We didn't need to get a loan, we needed to get new dollars."

The bill, described by some lawmakers as a "casserole," covered everything from school funding, the marijuana tax, the statewide tax revenue cap to Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals.

In one of its layers, lawmakers set aside $1.88 billion for projects that the Colorado Department of Transportation has marked top priorities. But that money isn't a simple appropriation, and CDOT will be required to pay some of it back.

"That's what was really kind of unusual about these funds," CDOT spokeswoman Tracy Trulove said. "It wasn't like it was new money. … It's almost like a loan."

Trulove said the exact proportion to be paid back hasn't been determined yet, and that the Legislature could make up for it with a general fund transfer.

In an email, Trulove said that the money is supposed to start coming in next year, with an estimated $342 million in the first installment. (In another wrinkle, the full $1.88 billion might not even materialize because it's being generated through lease-purchase agreements on state-owned buildings.)

Barring an intervention from the Legislature, however, some of the money would have to be repaid later on.

"I think CDOT is assuming that a lot of that money will come from their future maintenance dollars," Noll said. "That is problematic, and it's a backward way to fund projects."

CDOT's Transportation Commission has been mulling these issues since the bill's passage. The agency will have a better idea of where funds will go in March, Trulove said.

Given the uncertainty of the repayment scheme under SB 267, CDOT will be selecting projects based on only two years of funding, or $880 million, according to agency documents.

Local officials hope some of it will go to a handful of Summit County projects, most of them on Interstate 70.

"I was pretty excited about the rural projects funding provision in SB 267, and I hope that this provision will end up providing project funding for Summit County," county public works director Tom Gosiorowski said in an email.

But, like Noll, he had reservations about how CDOT would repay the borrowed funds — and if the Legislature would make up for them through the general fund.

"As I understand it, the primary problem is the monies borrowed with SB 267 must be repaid. … So I have some doubt as to whether (the bill) will ever actually be utilized," he said.

Across the board, transportation officials are hoping for a statewide transportation funding measure next year that would allow them to scrap the elaborate mess contained in SB 267.

The State Legislature nearly passed a bipartisan funding compromise last session, but it broke down after an intraparty rebellion on the Republican side.

Business groups are said to be working on a similar funding measure that could be put directly to voters next November. It would likely use a slight increase in the sales tax to create a dedicated funding stream for CDOT, which has steadily lost gas tax revenue from decades of inflation.

"I think that's been one of the challenges is that we were asked to put together these infrastructure dream lists and yet we still don't know where that money is coming from," Trulove said. "And that's why this next potential ballot issue is such a big deal for us, because we would be able to get some of these more high-priority projects."

Noll is also holding out for a grand funding measure next November. But until then, he said the county will be lobbying CDOT to include its projects on the SB 267 shortlist.

He said he was hopeful that the Highway 9 expansion from Frisco to Iron Springs would make the cut because it would be a relatively small project that would tie together a decade of improvements on the Frisco-to-Breckenridge corridor.

"We're hoping and pushing for funding under that bill to help us get this section done in the next few years," he said.

Deadline to buy Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass products for 2017-18 season is Nov. 19

#Colorado

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The deadline to purchase a season pass for Vail Resorts’ ski mountains is Sunday, Nov. 19.

Season pass holders can already take early season turns at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area. Keystone Resort and Breckenridge Ski Resort are both scheduled to open Friday, Nov. 10. Vail Mountain is scheduled to begin the season on Friday, Nov. 17, with Beaver Creek Resort planning to open on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

The Epic Pass, currently priced at $899 for adults and $469 for children, offers unlimited access with no restrictions to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado; Whistler Blackcomb in Canada; Park City Mountain in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe, California, area; Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont; Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota; Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and, starting, in 2018, Perisher in Australia, plus access to 30 European resorts across Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland.

At $679, the Epic Local Pass pays for itself in just more than three days of skiing and offers unlimited, unrestricted skiing or riding at Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, with limited restrictions at Park City, Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. The Epic Local Pass also includes 10 days at Vail, Beaver Creek and newly added access to Whistler and Stowe, with holiday restrictions.

The Keystone A-Basin 4-Pack, priced at $209, offers access to two mountains, with some holiday restrictions, for $369.

For more information, go to http://www.vailresorts.com or http://www.snow.com.

Highway realignment connecting Frisco and Breckenridge narrowly beats out winter, capping $23 million project

#Summit County #Colorado

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The Iron Springs realignment project was officially completed on Tuesday afternoon, wrapping up a project more than a decade in the making and ending a down-to-the-wire push by road crews to finish work before winter.

The nearly $23 million project eliminated a two-lane section of Highway 9 skirting along the shore of Lake Dillon and replaced it with a four-lane stretch that travels up the adjacent hillside. The old section of highway will now become part of the Summit County recreation path.

Road crews had to race to finish the project ahead of the season's first heavy snows, which could have shut down construction early and saddled the contractor, SEMA Construction, with hefty fines.

"SEMA did a lot of hard work over the last month," said Jason Laabs of Cirque Civil, which oversaw the project. "They had their second biggest pay estimate in October, so they applied a lot of resources to the project to get to the point that we're at today."

Paving finished last Friday, but crews still have to place some final touches on the road. Laabs said he expects the orange cones that have lined the project all season to be gone by the end of the week.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon, local state and federal officials praised the spirit of cooperation that guided the project through a minefield of potential veto players.

"Every one of the partners could've been a roadblock to this process. … Anyone could've said, 'No, this doesn't work,'" Summit County Commissioner Karn Stiegelmeier said. "But we had this can-do attitude every step of the way and creativity with all of our partners."

Some big lifting came from the Summit County government, Breckenridge and Frisco, which all pooled more than $300,000 each in matching funds for the Colorado Department of Transportation. When the project was hit with cost overruns, Vail Resorts pitched in too. Construction began in 2016.

CDOT currently has more than $10 billion in unfunded priorities statewide and almost no money for major road improvements. Iron Springs was made possible by a cost-sharing arrangement that had local governments kick in around 20 percent of the cost.

"There is this backlog of funding, and Colorado and CDOT are taking a very conservative approach to how we spend money," CDOT interim director Mike Lewis said. "This was an opportunity to do more with what was already on the books, and I think the other interesting innovation was getting more people with stake in the game."

Lewis said that the success of Iron Springs could be a model for getting important transportation projects done in the face of intractable budget gaps at CDOT.

"If we can work together in that spirit of partnership, there's virtually nothing that we can't do," he said. "This is the kind of example of what we can do when we put our minds to it."

Colorado's population has been growing by roughly 100,000 annually in recent years, and many of those people travel Summit County's roads.

"Who would've thought back in the day that we'd have a highway of this magnitude between Frisco and Breckenridge?" Eric Mamula, Breckenridge's mayor, said at the ceremony. "I never thought we would be this busy to where we need this, but now, truly we need this."

A major goal of Iron Springs was to respond to that demand and eliminate the two-lane choke point around "Leslie's Curve," named for the former owner of Frisco's Log Cabin Café, Les McMacken, who totaled his Cadillac rounding the bend in the 1960s.

"Safety is a problem we've got in Colorado right now. The numbers have gone in the wrong direction," said John Cater of the Federal Highway Administration.

Cater, administrator of the agency's Colorado Division, cited the state's sobering traffic fatality numbers, which have gone up to 609 last year from 488 in 2014.

"I think we need to find ways to improve safety," he said. "One way is to do projects like this."

When Iron Springs was first conceived in 2004, the plan was to widen the area around the curve by blasting out more of the hillside. Back then, the route that was ultimately used would've cut through a heavily forested area, making it less appealing.

"But the pine beetles came," Noll explained at the ribbon-cutting. "It wasn't virgin forest anymore after it was cut and treated."

The plan was eventually changed to adjust to the new reality. That allowed the project to shave an extra half-mile off the route and move the bike path to the lakeshore.

Noll said that the new bike path, which roughly swapped places with Highway 9, was the most popular aspect of the project. It will now run along the shores of Lake Dillon, offering a breathtaking view for cyclists.

"The biggest part of the public happiness with this project is this bike path, which has made a spectacular addition to the county," he said. "Almost all of the public comments we got were about the bike path."

What Colorado regions will grow fastest through 2050?

#Colorado

Summit Daily News

Summit Daily News Link

Northern Colorado and the Western Slope will claim larger shares of Colorado's population as the state adds 3 million new residents over the next three and a half decades, according to state forecasts.

Greeley and Fort Collins will more than double in population and the Western Slope will grow by two-thirds by 2050, the State Demography Office predicts, while Denver, Boulder, Pueblo and the central mountain resorts will grow at slower rates. Also, Colorado Springs will overtake a built-out Denver as the state's largest city.

Between 2015 and 2050, Colorado will add the equivalent of another metro Denver, on its way to 8.46 million residents. Though it's a lot of people, the state's rate of growth actually is predicted to slow during that period as the baby boomer generation moves on.

State and local officials use the forecasts to plan for growth, a hot topic as Colorado's roads, housing market and environment strain from an influx of out-of-state migrants.

The portion of the state's population along the Front Range is not expected to change significantly from its current 83.5 percent. What will change is where new households settle along the Front Range, and across more rural areas of Colorado, some of which are losing population.

The Denver and Boulder metro areas will add 1.39 million people, the most of any region, a gain of 45.4 percent. But other regions will add residents at an even faster clip, which will push the metro Denver-Boulder share of the state population from 56.3 percent of the total in 2015 to 52.7 percent by the midcentury mark

Read the full story here.

Fixing Summit County forests with the help of ‘citizen science’

#Summit County #Colorado

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The pine beetle came to Summit County in 2005, turning scores of trees red and creeping higher up the mountainsides each year.

Twelve years later, nearly every stand of lodgepole pines has been affected, and they stand in gray, dead clusters, creating headaches for firefighters, forest managers and concerned residents. It's been the same story through most of the High Country.

On Friday, more than 30 representatives from forestry groups across the state gathered in Frisco for the annual Colorado Forest Collaboratives Summit to share how they are still trying to heal their damaged forests.

It's an uphill battle, and will likely remain so for at least a generation. But if there's a silver lining, attendees said, it's the level of engagement and cooperation that the beetle scourge has inspired among diverse groups across the High Country.

"The bark beetle just kept chewing at the trees, moving to higher elevations, and pretty soon many of our forests were a lot different. … we really didn't know what to do about what was happening to our backyards," recalled Howard Hallman, president of the Forest Health Task Force.

As wildfires continue to burn hotter, bigger and more frequently across Colorado, firefighting costs have been swallowing up more and more of the U.S. Forest's Service budget. At the same time, forest remediation needs are more urgent than ever.

But with the agency's resources being pulled in both directions, groups like the FHTF have been stepping up to help out, providing valuable "citizen science" on the forests that helps speed along thinning projects and cultivates buy-in from communities.

This year, volunteers with the FHTF and Friends of the Dillon Ranger District have been conducting stand exams in more than 60 spots around Summit County, helping the Forest Service identify the parts of the forest most urgently in need of work.

That extra data has saved the Forest Service time and money at a time when it is desperately short on both. Recently, it helped speed along a remediation project near Keystone.

"We did (that project) pretty quickly and in efficient time, and that was because we frontloaded it with help from folks being out on the ground taking the data for us," USFS deputy district ranger Adam Bianchi told the group on Friday.

The Forest Service provides the volunteers with training and gear, then sends them fanning out across the forest to check up on the trees. In total, the group has checked more than 200 plots of forest.

"The idea is that in the future as we continue to grow, the group will help identify and help us figure out where on the district and where in the community we should be focusing on," Hallman said. "Where is the highest priority?"

Residents are sometimes wary of thinning and mitigation activities, especially when it means cutting trees near their homes. That was especially the case in the early days of the beetle crisis, but Bianchi said people are starting to come to terms with the fact that the forest is sick, and sometimes it needs bitter medicine.

A benefit of the citizen stand exams, Bianchi said, is that volunteers can educate themselves on forest health issues in the field and return to the community as ambassadors for the Forest Service.

"It went from, 'What the heck is the Forest Service doing?' to, 'Alright, this makes sense,'" he said.

During Friday's meeting, other foresters shared stories of how citizen data sets are helping them communicate better with the communities they serve and streamline projects.

On the Uncompahgre Plateau in southwest Colorado, for instance, the Colorado Forestry Institute has high school interns gathering data in the field. A similar program in Pagosa Springs recently enlisted students to conduct stand exams and help sell the community on an important thinning project at the edge of town.

There are some who are concerned that citizen science lacks the rigor and reliability of the work done by professionals. But Aaron Kimple of the Mountain Studies Institute, who worked with the Pagosa Springs students, said its value is twofold.

"You have to think of citizen science in multiple components: one is the data, and the other is learning and education," he told the group. "It depends on what you're hoping to get out of it."

And even if the data produced isn't fit for academic research, it can still be good enough for project monitoring and management purposes.

Carol Ekarius, of the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, told the group that given the scope of the problem, forest and watershed managers need all the help they can get.

"There's so much work to be done that if we get willing people to continue carrying the water, so to speak, we're making progress. We're not going to fix any of these problems in anybody's lifetime in this room, but it is a matter of continuing to move the needle."

Ski areas prepare for opening

#Summit County #Colorado

Courtesy Copper Mountain

Summit Daily News Link

Shortly before 10 a.m. Friday morning, dozens of club-team skiers at the 2,490-acre Copper Mountain Resort ambled in their boots after their morning runs through Center Village to fill up on coffee and an early lunch at Starbucks.

Then, at about 10 a.m., as several guns fanned snow onto the Main Vein trail behind the club and college skiers, the machines suddenly turned off. With temperatures creeping north of 40 degrees by midday Friday throughout the county, preparations for Copper Mountain Resort's opening day on Nov. 10 were interrupted.

Less than a week before Copper, as well as Keystone Resort and Breckenridge Ski Resort, are set to welcome skiers at 9 a.m. on Nov. 10, it's still a wait-and-see approach throughout the county.

"We are feeling pretty good about everything," said Zak Sos, spokesman for Breckenridge. "We will be opening a number of trails hopefully on Peak 8 for opening day, but we can't play the snow gods. We do hope for the best."

Though Breckenridge crews managed to cover the Springmeier intermediate run with snow as of early Thursday morning, the resort's snowguns stopped running at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning due to the warm weather.

Over at Keystone, snowmaking was also paused Thursday as the resort prepares to open its mid-mountain, 3.5-mile Schoolmarm beginner terrain on Dercum Mountain for the second straight year on Nov. 10.

"This allows the whole family to come out on opening day, which is pretty rare for most openings," said Keystone spokeswoman Sara Lococo. "That's one of the cool things. It worked last year so we are doing that again this year."

"The terrain plan we won't know until early or middle of next week," she added. "We'll have a better grasp then."

In the lead up to Friday's opening festivities at all three resorts, there is a four-to-five day snowstorm coming, then another possible storm in the long-term forecast scheduled to hit Saturday, Nov. 11, according to Joel Gratz, the founder of OpenSnow.com.

But the forecast, and just what it means for skiers and shredders, remains uncertain.

"There will likely be enough cold air and snowmaking to open on schedule on Friday," Gratz said Friday afternoon. "But I doubt there will be a whole lot of terrain open. The screaming message? Even though there will be a lot of snow between now and next Friday, it's not a ton of snow and temperatures will not be that cold."

Gratz described the storm that is to hit this weekend as one that will provide intermittent snow over four to five days. It's not a "perfect setup" for Summit County, he said, as Open Snow anticipates other parts of the state will likely get more snow than Summit, which he thinks will receive 5 to 10 inches by next Tuesday.

"The best snowfall for this storm will likely fall at the higher elevations, so above 9,000 feet," Gratz said. "That's pretty good for ski areas, but it's not going to be that cold. It'll be in the upper 20s at mountain level. It's fine, but definitely not a cold storm by Colorado standards."

As for snowmaking at the resorts, Gratz thinks colder temperatures beginning Tuesday night lasting into Wednesday should allow for better snowmaking into Wednesday night.

The dry and warm start is similar to last year, though Gratz said it's still way too early "to hit the panic button" and worry about how long into the season some terrain will remain without snow.

"I ran the numbers," Gratz said, "and if we have little to no natural snow base by the middle of November, we still have a two-thirds chance of getting to average or above average base by the end of December."

At Copper, snowmaking crews can blanket 336 acres of the resort's 2,490 acres of skiable terrain without natural snowfall. Copper spokeswoman Stephanie Sweeney said the plan is for a couple of intermediate trails from mid-mountain leading down to Center Village, Rhapsody and Main Vein.

The resort then plans to branch out to its West Village beginner terrain around Thanksgiving before it hopes to open most all of its East Village advanced terrain around the same time the U.S. Ski team completes its training on Dec. 15.

At Breckenridge, Sos said opening day plans include Upper and Lower Springmeier, Middle Four O'Clock and Trygve's.

And at Keystone, the newly renovated Montezuma Express chairlift will expand from four to six seats, transporting skiers and snowboarders to the middle of Dercum Mounain on opening day.

"That's what we are most excited for," Keystone spokesman Russ Carlton said of the new lift.

Nightskiing at Keystone will again start the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and be open only on weekends until mid-December, then from Wednesday through Saturday for the remainder of the season.

Once open on Nov. 10, Breckenridge and Keystone will be open seven days a week through the duration of their seasons. Keystone is scheduled to close on Sunday, April 9, with Breckenridge closing two weekends later.

Winter weather advisory in effect for Summit County, Colorado Rockies

#Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit Daily News Link

A prolonged storm system will bring snow, and possibly lots of it, to the Summit County-area mountains this weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the Gore and Elk mountain ranges from 6 p.m. Saturday to 11 a.m. Monday. Total accumulations of 4 to 10 inches of snow are possible, with localized totals potentially reaching 12 inches.

Temperatures will be a key factor in how much snow falls, and where. According to the Weather Service, the revised advisory is for locations 8,500 feet in elevation or higher. Most Summit County towns are at or above that elevation.

Saturday's forecast high temperature for Summit is 34 degrees, with snow likely. The overnight low Saturday will dip well below freezing. Sunday's high temperature in the towns will hit 31 degrees, with an overnight low of 21 degrees.

A chance of rain and snow will persist into the middle of next week, when the temperatures will climb and the sun will come out.

Arapahoe Basin opens upper mountain ski terrain ahead of last year’s pace

#Arapahoe Basin #Colorado

Summit Daily News

Summit Daily News Link

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area continues to open sections of its terrain ahead of last year's pace as portions of the upper mountain opened Wednesday morning.

Lenawee Face and Dercum's Gulch opened around 9 a.m. Wednesday, joining High Noon and Ramrod as blue runs open for this season. Currently only intermediate runs are open on the mountain along with the Banana Park portion of the frontside terrain park.

Speaking Wednesday evening, Arapahoe Basin spokeswoman Adrienne Saia Isaac said the ski area once again is targeting Thanksgiving as its date to open beginner terrain, though if the terrain can be opened before the holiday A-Basin "will make it happen."

"Typically we will still make snow on the top of the mountain but will also look to get our beginner terrain open as quickly as possible after the upper mountain opens," Isaac said.

"We are hoping to have beginner terrain open soon," she added, "and of course we are hoping Mother Nature is kind to all of us, because the rest of terrain will rely on natural snowfall to open."

Isaac described A-Basin's early season since its initial Oct. 13 opening — a week earlier than last year — as "really successful," as the ski area gears up to open its new 339-acres of terrain at The Beavers this season via a lift for the first time. A-Basin received 3 inches of new snow overnight from Monday into Tuesday.

"The upper mountain in the last few years opened in early November," Isaac said, "so to have the upper mountain open on Nov. 1 is really exciting, and I'm hoping it's a sign for a really snowy winter to come."

The Pros and Cons of Solar Panels

#Colorado

RE/MAX Blog Link

The cost of installing solar panels on a home has dropped dramatically over the past decade. Is it time for your home to run on sunshine? Here are some pros and cons to consider.

1. Pro: Demolish your electric bills

Obviously by capturing free energy from the sun, you'll pay less in your utility bill. In some states, you can even earn money back by selling the unused energy your panels generate to the utility company in the form of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs).

2. Con: Upfront cost

While installation and materials are more affordable than ever, it might take up to seven years for the system to pay for itself through the money you save. Fortunately, there are considerable tax breaks, rebates and solar-specific loans available to help homeowners get started. The federal investment tax credit allows you to deduct 30 percent of the cost of your system from your taxes. You can search for state programs on the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency®.

3. Pro: Save the planet

Generating energy from fossil fuels emits harmful carbon dioxide and methane that contributes to global warming – using solar panels for power does not. And unlike other energy sources, solar power doesn't require water to process.

4. Con: Doesn't work for every roof

Some roofing materials used in older homes, like slate or cedar tiles, make it difficult for installing panels.

5. Pro: May increase your home's value

Solar panels can increase the value of your home, according to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, part of the Department of Energy.

6. Con: Maintenance costs

Insurance, cleaning, repairs. As with anything, solar panels come with their own additional costs. 

Independence Pass closed Monday night because of weather, and it may not reopen this season

#Colorado

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Independence Pass closed 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30 because of weather and could remain closed for the rest of the fall and winter, Colorado transportation officials announced Monday afternoon.

Crews from the Colorado Department of Transportation sent out a statement just before 3 p.m. Monday announcing the gate closure on Highway 82, which took place at 7 p.m. on both the Pitkin County and Lake County sides of the pass.

CDOT officials previously had announced plans to keep Independence Pass open as long as possible this fall because of traffic backups associated with the Grand Avenue Bridge closure in Glenwood Springs.

Crews have been plowing the highway — which goes over the 12,095 foot Continental Divide — in an effort to keep it open, the statement says. However, inclement weather forecast for the higher elevations led to the decision to close the road.

"CDOT will continue to monitor the weather through next week to determine if the pass can be reopened," the statement says.

It is the earliest Independence Pass closure since at least 2011, when it closed Nov. 2, according to the CDOT statement. The latest the pass closed since 2011 was Nov. 17 in 2016.

Interstate 70 closures at exit 205 in Silverthorne a ‘highly dangerous ballet’

#Silverthorne #Colorado

Summit Daily Photo

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In the winter, when Interstate 70 shuts down at exit 205 due to car crashes or a deluge of snow, Silverthorne police chief John Minor gives his officers the same piece of advice: "You better have your head on a swivel and your head in the game, because it's about to get a little sporty."

For the officers and state patrollers who ride herd over the chaotic cattle drive of cars and semis during an interstate evacuation, being on high alert means the difference between life and death.

"If you're actually on the interstate staffing that closure just before the bridge," Minor said, "it's probably one of the most dangerous things you'll ever do in your life."

Stationed on icy, wind-chilled roadway, officers do their best not to get run over or freeze their toes off as they corral traffic down into town, making way for tow trucks and the Colorado Department of Transportation's fleet of plows and sanders.

“It is a challenge and we can unfortunately have complete gridlock in our community no matter how hard we try.”John MinorSilverthorne police chief

Minor likened it to a "highly dangerous ballet."

However, that dance often grinds to a halt once vehicles reach the towns below. While officers stack semis along the sides of the interstate, confused and cranky motorists flood into the interchange connecting Silverthorne and Dillon.

'BEYOND THAT, IT STINKS'

These highway evacuees make their way down the exit ramp, where officers in the right and left turn lanes wait to welcome them into town. Minor said many drivers take the time to roll down the window to ask the same question: "When is the interstate going to reopen?"

Officers do their best to answer inquiries while funneling the cars away from the exit. Some people go shopping or to a restaurant. Some camp out at nearby parking lot. Some get a hotel room. Some just illegally park along the highways, hoping to be the first to get back on the interstate when it reopens.

Things can break down quickly, with traffic sometimes backing up all the way past Swan Mountain Road at Highway 6 and into northernmost Silverthorne on Highway 9.

"It is a challenge and we can unfortunately have complete gridlock in our community no matter how hard we try," Minor said. "Every situation is slightly different. Part of it is timing. If it's at 5 p.m. or 4 p.m., and the ski areas are getting out, it may get away from you. You can deal with absolute chaos for a couple off hours, but beyond that, it stinks."

Each year, as traffic volume on the I-70 mountain corridor increases, the scope of the problem seems to grow more unwieldy. And CDOT and Summit County have been scrambling for answers.

Since last winter, CDOT has changed its tactics when it comes to closures. Instead of just reacting to accidents, pile-ups and rollovers, the department is staging so-called "safety closures" when the weather turns hairy.

As a result, the number of closures spiked by 42 percent this past winter, going from roughly 300 closures between Golden and Vail to 500 during the 2016-2017 season. However, the total duration of closure time has dropped by 31 percent thanks to these preemptive closures. Ultimately, that's a win for motorists and for towns like Silverthorne and Dillon.

At a recent meeting between Summit County and CDOT in Breckenridge, Tom Gosiorowski, the county's public works director, pointed out that CDOT has an effective and fine-tuned plan when it comes to getting cars off the interstate, but not necessarily when it comes to minimizing and managing the impacts on secondary highway systems.

Beyond the general disruption of gridlock, there are serious public safety concerns at play. A closure-related traffic jam along Summit highways can make it difficult for ambulances or fire trucks to respond to emergencies, for example.

Patrick Chavez, CDOT's operations manager for the I-70 mountain corridor, said the state agency is striving to do a better job in coordinating closure efforts with the towns that are adversely affected by them.

"We're really looking at working with communities to find where to put those vehicles," he said at the Breckenridge meeting.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Ultimately, communication is the key to ensuring these closures run smoothly.

CDOT is in constant radio contact with the towns and the county when it comes to I-70. However, getting the word out to drivers hasn't always been as easy. Unless they have CDOT's phone app or check its social media feeds, pay close attention to roadside message boards or visit the town of Silverthorne's website, motorists may not know exactly where to go to wait out the closures or when start their drive back home.

That could soon change. The county and CDOT are both testing out communications systems that can target cellphones in specific geographic areas. That means sending custom messages to motorists on where to park during a closure, for example.

Additionally, Minor said the town of Silverthorne has implemented some small changes to better manage these events. Just recently, the town has stationed cone boxes at the 205 interchange, so that officers can immediately begin routing traffic flows off the interstate. Officers will also hand out informational fliers to motorists during closures.

Summit County Commissioner Thomas Davidson suggested closing Highway 6 near Keystone as one possible measure to ease I-70 closure snarls. He said that could help prevent resort traffic from compounding the mess. The resort often suggests that guests hang tight in the event of an interstate shutdown, but that hasn't always proven effective.

Minor said he's had some preliminary conversations with area officials about closing Highway 6 to reduce the traffic impacts during an I-70 shutdown. However, he believes such a measure would have unwanted consequences. A Keystone resident might, for example, find herself stuck when she's simply trying to get to Summit Cove to pick up her child from school.

"For every solution you sometimes have to be aware you might be creating another problem," Minor said.

ROAD WORK TO BE DONE

Steadily increasing volumes of traffic coursing through the mountains is a stress test for the roads and bridges that connect Summit County. To fully address closure impacts on Silverthorne and Dillon, Minor said CDOT will eventually have to revamp the 205 interchange.

"At the end of the day, we have 2017 traffic on 1970s infrastructure," he said.

CDOT has exit 205 on its radar, but improvements — such as the construction of an eastbound auxiliary lane from Frisco to Silverthorne and an overhaul of the interchange itself — will prove expensive. Current estimates have such projects totaling to more than $40 million. That money likely would come from the $2 billion in funds authorized under Senate Bill 17-267, which passed during the last legislative session and seeks to update infrastructure in the state's rural areas.

"We can't kid ourselves there," Minor said. "Someone is going to have to bite the bullet and get that done."

Report suggests buyers targeting luxury homes in Summit County ahead of ski season

#Summit County #Colorado

Summit Daily News Photo

Summit Daily News Link

Summit County saw 250 real estate transactions in September for more than $155 million combined, and the average price of those sales was just over $622,000, according to a monthly sales report released by the county assessor's office.

Altogether, 35 of those September transactions were for properties that sold at $1 million or more, which is slightly ahead of 30 properties sold with price tags of $1 million or more in the same month last year.

According to Summit Daily archives, the total volume of September sales was a tick off the $159 million from September 2015 and more than $20 million behind September 2016, which saw combined sales of $175 million.

For much of the country, cooler weather can mean the slowest time of year for real estate sales, with many homebuyers being forced into the market in the fall and winter by major life changes, such as a new job.

In Summit County, however, the market didn't dip significantly last year until after Christmas before picking up again in the springtime and cruising through a record-setting summer. A recent market report prepared by Liv Sotheby's, one of the largest local real-estate firms, suggests that many of the late-summer and fall purchases could have been fueled by homebuyers' desire to purchase luxury homes ahead of the 2017-18 ski season, which for Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort and Copper Mountain Resort is expected to open on Nov. 10.

As a result, 32 of the 35 $1 million-plus estate transactions in Summit County last September involved luxury homes, defined as the sale of a home at or above $1 million, according to Liv Sotheby's report focused on the luxury housing market in Summit County.

The report continues by saying the number of luxury homes sold in the county's resort communities — including Breckenridge, Keystone and Copper — has increased year-over-year by a whopping 41 percent, with buyers closing on 314 luxury homes from October 2016 to September 2017, compared to 222 in the same timeframe the prior year. Beyond that, the overall number of listings in the luxury market was down 3 percent and there were 42 percent fewer new listings this year compared to the previous year.

Still, the average listing price of a luxury home in Summit County — about $1.5 million — remained almost unchanged from 2016, and total sales volume in Summit County's luxury housing market was up 42 percent compared to last year, according to the report.

SEPTEMBER BY THE NUMBERS

250: Total real estate sales

306: Total real estate sales (2016)

$155.6 million: Total value of sales

$175.7 million: Total value of sales (2016)

$4.5 million: Most expensive sale

$9.25 million: Most expensive sale (2016)

35: Sales of at least $1 million

30: Sales of at least $1 million (2016)

TOP 5 SALES: SEPTEMBER

1. $4,508,500 — Lot 14R, Silverthorne (mixed-use land)

2. $2,212,000 — Lot 18 Columbia Lode, Breckenridge (residential home)

3. $2,200,000 — Lot 3 Highlands at Breckenridge (residential home)

4. $2,175,000 — Lot 199 Highlands at Breckenridge (residential home)

5. $1,825,000 — Lot 20 Summit Estates, Breckenridge (residential home)

Source: Summit County Assessor

Futuristic technology being used in Vail Resorts’ war on lift lines

# Vail #Colorado

Vail Daily

Summit Daily News Link

It seems like there’s never a lift line at Chair 10. But every once and a while you’ll ski down Highline or Blue Ox and find there is indeed a wait to board the lift. Sometimes the reason is obvious, but other times it’s a complete mystery. Could the date and time provide the answer?

With an eye toward the future and the modern practices of data collection we’re now able to obtain, Vail Resorts this year will unveil EpicMix Time Insights, a mobile and desktop app which will allow you to view lift line wait times for each day of the 2016-17 winter season. Daily snowfall totals will also be among the Insights, allowing you to view how snowfall, holidays and the weekend vs. weekday dynamic affects each part of the mountain when it comes to traffic. It’s the next step in a process that began in the 2015-16 winter season, when the EpicMix Time app started providing lift wait time data in real time.

The system works by analyzing signals emitted by guests’ mobile devices as they cue up for a lift, said Robert Urwiler, chief information officer for Vail Resorts.

“Sensors were installed around strategic points around each lift loading area that gather anonymous device probe data and transmit them to a cloud-based database for analytics,” Urwiler said.

This year, cross examining information will be interesting. Five or 10 years from now, it could prove to be downright vital when it comes to mapping your route around Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Park City.

“(EpicMix Time Insights) is of significant benefit to our guests who are looking to find the best time to start their day, break for lunch, opt for a different chairlift with a shorter line or even to select the ideal vacation dates,” Urwiler said.

MOniTORING THE MOUNTAIN

On a mountain as big as Vail, guests are frequently finding themselves miles away from, say, an upcoming dinner reservation. In a comic juxtaposition, often times their servers are also out there on the slopes, looking for the fastest route to get down the mountain, make it to work on time and not get their passes pulled in the process.

Aaron Nagel, Marketing Manager for EpicMix and bona fide tech guy, is more than a little excited about how EpicMix Time Insights can help those skiers and snowboarders better meet their schedules. The aim is to provide services such as those now used by motorists on their daily commutes.

“(Insights will be) very similar to how Google Maps tracks your time home and how (that service) can tell you there’s a better route,” Nagel said.

NEW FRONT IN THE FIGHT

The big picture for Vail Resorts, however, is about much more than helping the bus boy make it into work on time. The war the company has waged on lift lines is now being fought on multiple fronts, with hardware and software both being used as important weapons.

Along the hardware lines, the tactic is obvious — in the last five years the company has upgraded 17 lifts across its western destination mountain resorts. The slow moving, fixed-grip lift is now a fossil at Vail, as every chair on the mountain now detaches onto a fast moving cable for maximum efficiency.

The software front is a more behind-the-scenes battle, however, and the company is hoping for a technological super soldier of sorts with EpicMix Time Insights.

“EpicMix Time data we collect helps us to identify additional pinch points, and where to invest next,” Urwiler said.

Guests can access Insights on their desktop or mobile device at http://www.time.epicmix.com. To learn more about EpicMix or the EpicMix Time app, visit http://www.epicmix.com.