New Castle Creek Bridge Project Kicks Off with Six Events in Seven Days
More than 150 people participated in community events and conversations
Aspen, Colorado – December 6, 2022 - The City of Aspen’s awareness campaign to get people up to speed on the status of the long-discussed Entrance to Aspen, known as the “New Castle Creek Bridge” conversation, kicked off last week with six events over the course of one week. Thus far, this initial phase of outreach events reached more than 150 people from the Rotary Club of Aspen, Hunter Creek Homeowners Association, media, and general public through presentations, both online and in person, and a weekend site tour.
During this initial phase of the project, City of Aspen staff will continue to offer community events and small group meetings through the middle of December and again in January, including in-person and virtual open houses, site tours, pop-up events, and small group presentations to neighborhood groups. The next public events are an Open House at Aspen City Hall on Wednesday, December 7, from 6-8 p.m. and a site tour on Thursday, December 8, from 12-2 p.m.
“The initial level of interest we received from the community is positive,” said Assistant City Manager Diane Foster, co-lead of the project. “This project will have a big impact on everyone in our community, including those who live in Aspen, and especially for those that live near the proposed design plan. Our goal is to provide community members with a variety of opportunities to learn more about the history and future of Castle Creek Bridge - at whatever level they would like, and according to their personal interests and schedules,” she continued.
On December 3, 2022, visitors were guided through five stations hosted throughout Bugsy Barnard Park and the Marolt-Thomas Open Space. City staff presented information about conceptual drawings of the proposed new bridge, the highway’s new alignment, and the land bridge that will create continuous open space between Marolt-Thomas properties and Aspen Golf Club.
At one of the stations, Trish Aragon, City of Aspen Engineer and co-lead of the project, shared about the current state of the bridge and the motivation for the timing of these community discussions. Aragon noted, “Attendees at Saturday’s site tour had a lot of questions about the project, ranging from, ‘Why now?,’ to, 'Why can’t the existing bridge continue to be repaired instead of replaced?’”.
“It’s important that our community addresses the need for a new bridge - now,” Aragon continued. “The existing Castle Creek Bridge is 62 years old and was designed to last 75 years - until 2036. And it takes eight to 12 years from planning through construction for a new bridge, which is the reason for re-starting the conversation. Ultimately, Aspen voters will be the ones who need to decide how we move forward with addressing the situation.”
More about the project, including the history, a 5-minute video, conceptual renderings, and the schedule of upcoming public events, is available at CastleCreekBridge.com.
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Contacts:
Diane Foster, Assistant City Manager, City of Aspen, 1-970-920-5296, Diane.Foster@aspen.gov.
Jami McMannes, Communications Manager, City of Aspen, 1-970-765-4752, jami.mcmannes@aspen.gov.