Laserfiche WebLink
s • <br />The Rio Blanco County Road and Bridge Department is responsible for maintenance <br />and snow plowing of Piceance Creek Road. It is unlikely that the modest vehicle <br />traffic associated with the Yankee Gulch Project (about 20 to 32 trips per day} would <br />significantly increase road wear or associated maintenance costs to the county. <br />The BLM's Mitigation Measures and Conditions of Approval for the exploration <br />plan provide for upgrading and maintaining the on-site project access roads to <br />prevent soil erosion and to accommodate year-round traffic (BLM 1996c). American <br />Soda will provide continuous maintenance of on-site access roads at the Piceance <br />Site throughout the life of the commercial mining operation. <br />Reactivation of the rail spur from the preferred Parachute Site to the Union Pacific <br />main line along Interstate 70 would generate train traffic in the lower Parachute <br />Creek valley that would pass within about 1 mile of the town of Parachute. The rail <br />spur would cross Parachute Creek Road about 1 mile southeast of the preferred <br />Parachute Site. Appropriate crossing gates and/or warning signs and lights would <br />be installed at the road crossing to warn drivers of approaching trains. The design of <br />this at-grade crossing would have to be approved by the Colorado Public Utilities <br />Commission. In terms of rail traffic, hauling of finished products from the <br />Parachute Site would generally be accomplished with one train trip per day between <br />the preferred Parachute Site and the Interstate 70 railroad area. These trains would <br />have an average of about 26 100-ton cars. Each train trip would haul in empty cars <br />• and haul out the loaded cars. The loaded cars would likely be assembled into larger <br />trains at the rail area near Interstate 70. It is anticipated that about 3 trains of about <br />50 to 60 100-ton cars would be generated each week. Along the Union Pacific main <br />line, rail traffic would increase from about 24 trains per week to 27 trains with the <br />project as proposed. <br /> <br />American Soda, L.L.P. 8-46 <br />Commercial Mine Plan <br />August 18, 1998 <br />