Aspen Times editorial board
There used to be a popular perception that our beautiful little neck of the woods was immune to the direct ravages of wildfire. That, of course, was a myth.
The Roaring Fork Valley has suffered more than its share of wildfires from the tragic South Canyon Fire that killed 14 wildland firefighters on Storm King Mountain on July 6, 1994, to the Coal Seam Fire that destroyed 43 structures in and around West Glenwood Springs in 2002 and the Lake Christine Fire that destroyed three homes and threatened countless others in the El Jebel area in 2018, to last summer’s Grizzly Creek Fire that created mayhem for travelers on Interstate 70 that persists to this day with flash floods in the burn scar. This year the Sylvan Lake Fire still burns close to home, just one major valley north of Fryingpan Valley.
A view of the proposed location for the South Bridge project at Glenwood Springs Airport. Shannon Marvel / Post Independent
No one dismisses the need for the South Bridge Project, but where to construct the alternative route is a subject of debate in Glenwood Springs.
The Glenwood Springs City Council will vote on whether to go with the first option for the project route, which would bore underneath the runway at the municipal airport. That route would begin at Midland Avenue and Four Mile Road, where it would follow Airport Road before tunneling below the airport’s runway. The South Bridge would then cross the Roaring Fork River before connecting to Colorado Highway 82.