If you visit Estes Park, you鈥檙e part of the problem.
The town is grappling with increasing tourist traffic and parking problems, which have only gotten worse as Estes Park鈥檚 popularity has grown. Throw in 3 million annual visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park and a roadway that wasn鈥檛 designed to handle the congestion and you鈥檝e got a big headache.
But how to fix it?
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good problem to have,鈥� said Kate Rush, spokeswoman for the town.
Visitors make up the lifeblood of the mountain gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, whose small town feel is punctuated by candy stores and t-shirt shops, a stark contrast to Colorado鈥檚 ski resort communities.
鈥淧eople come to Estes Park for the feel, for the community,鈥� Rush said.
But that small community, whose population at last check was 6,086 but sees an annual visitation of over 2 million people, has been divided over a controversial .
Here鈥檚 a breakdown of the Downtown Estes Loop concept from :
鈥淯nder the Downtown Loop proposal, westbound U.S. 36 traffic, toward [Rocky Mountain National] park, would use the highway鈥檚 current route 鈥� west along Elkhorn Avenue through the downtown core of tourist shops and restaurants, then south and west on Moraine Avenue 鈥� but eastbound U.S. 36 would be diverted at the Moraine Avenue curve onto West Riverside Drive, across a new bridge over the Big Thompson at Ivy Street, then north on East Riverside Drive to reconnect with Elkhorn east of the downtown core.鈥�
Bizwest further notes that backers of the loop are looking to ease traffic gridlock and replace 2013 flood damaged bridges in one fell swoop. Opponents fear both the disturbance of residential peace on the proposed route and damage to businesses who would see drops in traffic. The division has resulted in tensions among residents as well as letters to the editor in the local paper, both and .
Initially, the Downtown Estes Loop was estimated to cost $17.2 million. But a preliminary finding in the National Environmental Policy Act study, which is considering both no action and the loop project, found that the Big Thompson River channel under three bridges would need to be widened and deepened in case of another 100-year flood. That would almost double the cost of the project.
Now a third option may be added to the study, which may be less controversial.
In light of the mushrooming cost, Estes Park Mayor Pinkham wrote a letter to the Central Federal Lands Highway Division, asking that a parking and transit center be considered in the study. Town spokeswoman Kate Rush points out that the transit facility parking structure would be downtown and allow visitors to stop, park and hop on a shuttle to Rocky or around town.
鈥淭he precise location of a transit facility parking structure would only be determined during the NEPA study and the project design phase, so at this point we don鈥檛 know an exact location,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e did a conceptual drawing for something like this being located in the post office parking area of downtown Estes Park, but the precise location of the design would only come through the process.鈥�
If it鈥檚 included in the NEPA study, there would be more public process and getting more public feedback around looking at the parking structure alternative.
鈥淭his would take a big dent out of our parking issue,鈥� Rush said, but she cautions the parking and transit structure would have be the preferred alternative when the NEPA study is completed in 2016.
鈥淚t鈥檚 likely that it wouldn鈥檛 cost as much as the Downtown Estes Loop, but we won鈥檛 know until an actual conceptual alternative was developed through the screening process,鈥� Rush said.
鈥淎 lot of what we鈥檝e heard through this process is we鈥檇 rather you build parking than the loop. So in a way this is us reacting to a lot of that feedback that we鈥檝e heard for so many years and through the study. We know that parking is a very high priority for a lot for the downtown businesses and residents just as is reducing traffic congestion,鈥� she said.
Estes Park already has a to take visitors around town, and a separate parking structure is being built near the visitor鈥檚 center. Now, Rush said, they will have to wait to see if this new proposal is included in the NEPA study.
鈥淎t this point we don鈥檛 know when we鈥檒l hear back from Central Federal Lands on this request.鈥�
