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<br />01)2135 <br /> <br />Record oj Decision <br /> <br />250.000-300.000 skier days per season gridlock in the Maroon/Castle Corridor. Highway 82. and <br />surrounding community be handled? <br /> <br />* How will the resort base parking spaces reduction from approximately 780 to 450 spaces be mitigated? <br /> <br />Transportation is one of the most significant issues facing those who live and work in the <br />Aspen/Snowmass area. Inadequate roads and intersections, combined with large peak-hour skier and <br />commuter traffic volumes, produce serious problems in traffic flow and roadway safety. Fortunately, the <br />State and local governments are aggressively working on several mechanisms to improve existing <br />problems and to address anticipated growth. Some of the projects in various stages of planning and <br />implementation include: <br /> <br />* State Highway 82 four-lane construction from Basallto Buttermilk. <br /> <br />* The section from Buttermilk to Gerbazdale is a Phase I priority and will include HOY lanes. <br /> <br />'" The Entrance to Aspen with four lanes (HOY lanes initially, light rail to replace HOY lanes later) has <br />been endorsed by the community. <br /> <br />'" Rail feasibility study to determine what technologies and alignments might be used to develop a <br />long-tern! transit system from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. <br /> <br />* Purchase of Denver/Rio Grande right-of-way by municipalities and counties within the Roaring Fork <br />Valley for future transportation facility uses. <br /> <br />[t can be seen from this list that the Roaring Fork Valley is moving forward with a myriad of <br />transportation projects and plans aimed at resolving urban level congestion. For my part, I am committed <br />to ensuring that the authorized activities at the Aspen Highlands Ski Area do not exacerbate local <br />transportation problems in the short tenn, before some of the longer-term solutions are developed and <br />implemented by local governments. <br /> <br />The EIS contains a comprehensive analysis of potential transportation impacts from actions authorized on <br />NFS lands, as well as impacts from build-out of the Base area which the Forest Service has no control <br />over. Transportation impacts associated with the decision of MOP components on NFS lands will only <br />increase ever so slightly due to the fact that the initial skier access capacity is increasing only slightly from <br />current capacity and is a 1,000 SAOT reduction over the past permitted capacity of 4,500 SAOT's. <br /> <br />Most of the actions assessed in the off-site build-out scenario are not connected actions because they will <br />not automatically trigger, or be triggered by, actions on N FS lands: they will proceed regardless of other <br />actions on NFS lands; and they are not dependent upon larger actions. However, the cumulative <br />transportation effect of both the ski area and base area developments would increase, but traffic volumes <br />would continue to be well below the theoretical roadway capacities. Under Ihis combination (base area <br />development), the average weekend parking demand would exceed the Aspen Highlands Ski Area parking <br />capacity. A number of required mitigation measures have been identified by ASC and the community that <br />can accommodate this short coming. <br /> <br />VISUAL RESOURCES <br /> <br />'" How will the visual quality be maintained for: Loge Peak, Olympic chair (views), Maroon and <br />Highland Bowls, and the old base lodge? <br /> <br />Consideralion of Environmental Issues <br />Visual Resources <br /> <br />35 <br />