Otak Blog

On October 20th the City of Aspen and Colorado Department of Transportation celebrated the completion of two landmark projects: the new Maroon Creek Bridge and the dedicated bus lanes on State Highway 82. The highway is the primary transportation corridor that links communities and provides access to a multitude of recreational amenities in the Roaring Fork River Valley. Replacement of the historic bridge, originally built by the Midland Railroad in 1888, required more than a decade of planning and budgeting and a unique financial partnership between the City and State. Its new support structure was designed to echo the style of the original bridge, which is located just to the south and will remain in place. Otak provided landscape architecture, wetland delineation, and environmental clearance services for the project, including realignment of a highly popular paved multi-use trail that connects to both ends of the new bridge. Otak also provided landscape architecture and irrigation design for the bus lane project, which added two transit-only lanes to the heavily congested segment of SH 82 from the Buttermilk ski area to the Maroon Creek roundabout. Services continued through construction administration.

For the second year in a row, Carbondale staffers Kate Schwarzler, Linda Schuemaker, and Jennifer Michaud, along with partners and friends, served beer, wine, and good spirits to some of the most generous people in western Colorado at the Save the Land Dance. The dance is a major annual fundraiser for the Aspen Valley Land Trust (AVLT), based in Carbondale. Since 1967, AVLT has helped private landowners preserve over 28,000 acres of working family ranches, scenic viewsheds, riparian and wildlife habitat, and recreational areas in the Roaring Fork and upper Colorado River watersheds. This year’s dance honored many of these landowners, whose photos and biographies appear in AVLT’s first book, Our Place, which debuted at the dance. It’s a beautiful tribute that provides a real-life look at these families who have shaped the region for generations, and who will continue to do so through the donation of their land.