The Vail Daily reports that improving the gravel road up Cottonwood Pass between Gypsum and Glenwood Springs as an alternative route to Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon would cost from $47 million to $66 million – and that’s only for the 15 miles in Eagle County to the summit. The other 10 miles into Glenwood would add to that.

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports that the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority unveiled the general design of bus stations for 14 high-visibility stops along the Roaring Fork Valley’s spine on Tuesday.

RFTA will build the new stations as part of its $50 million expansion of the bus system that will be undertaken over the next three years. RFTA and its consultants will try to sell details of its plan to the public in a series of meetings starting in Glenwood Springs Feb. 16. Two meetings will be held in Aspen Feb. 17.

Go to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent to see the entire article.

The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reports that the new configuration of the Glenwood Springs 116 interchange seems to be moving traffic along more efficiently, but that some motorists are having a hard time adjusting to some of the newly placed traffic signals.

More specifically, the one traffic signal just after the right-hand turn from Sixth Street onto the Grand Avenue Bridge. The past configuration had a single traffic turn lane where motorists did not have to stop before turning onto the bridge.

However, the new configuration includes a red-arrow traffic light that requires traffic to stop at the turn. It’s that one aspect that is confusing some motorists, and has caused a few accidents.

Go to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent to see the entire article.

The Colorado Department of Transportation anticipates completion within the next two to three weeks of the Interstate 70 Exit 116 interchange project, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports.

According to a press release from project spokesman Tom Newland, the project, which involves widening of the exit ramps to two lanes and the placement of a new dual right-turn lanes onto the Grand Avenue Bridge at Sixth Street, will be completed ahead of schedule.

Go to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent to see the entire item.

Roaring Fork Transportation Authority officials think their revenues will drop 23 percent next year from what was budgeted in 2009 because of the ailing economy, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports.

RFTA will get hit hardest by falling sales tax collections. Fares collections will also drop because of sagging ridership, according to the draft budget presented to the board of directors Thursday by Finance Director John Tangen and Chief Executive Officer Dan Blankenship.

“It’s been a difficult year because we had to ask everyone in the organization to make some sacrifices,” Blankenship said.

Go to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent for the entire article.

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports that U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-3rd Dist., announced that $17.5 million in federal funding has been allocated to upgrade the runway at Garfield County Regional Airport.

This funding is in addition to the $13.5 million for the same project announced in May. The airport is currently in the second year of a three-year project that will upgrade the runway safety area to better accommodate jet aircraft.

Some of the improvements include expanding the safety area around the runway from 300 feet to 500 feet, new aircraft instrument approaches from the east and west and reducing the slope of the runway by lowering the east end approximately seven feet and raising the west end approximately 14 feet. This will reduce the slope to less that 1 percent across the entire 7,000 foot runway. This year’s work includes moving an estimated 1.8 million cubic yards of dirt and gravel into to the new safety area, and at some locations constructing embankments more than 60 feet high.

Read the entire article at the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

The Colorado Department of Transportation will soon begin installing wildlife fencing along a stretch of Highway 82 south of Glenwood Springs that sees a high incidence of wildlife-vehicle collisions, the Aspen Times reports.

The project, to begin Monday, Sept. 14, will include the installation of about 15,869 linear feet of 8-foot-high fence on the west side of the highway, between mile markers 7 and 11, in the Aspen Glen area between Carbondale and Glenwood in Garfield County. It will also complete the fencing — about a mile’s worth — on the east side of the highway along this stretch.

Traffic impacts are expected to be “minimal” during the duration of the Interstate 70, Exit 116 Glenwood Springs interchange project, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports. The project, which began Monday, is scheduled to last until Nov. 24, with a majority of the work being performed during the night.

A $1.9 million upgrade of the downtown Glenwood Springs interchange at Interstate 70 begins Monday with funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project will repair and resurface the CO 82 Grand Avenue overpass over I-70 and the Colorado River, widen the exit and entrance ramps bring heavy commuting traffic in from and back to West Glenwood and add capacity to the Sixth Street-Grand Avenue intersection that leads to the bridge, and where much of the I-70 traffic is heading.