Summit County officials mull options for popular cycling route in high country
Summit Daily News file photo
By CADDIE NATH, SUMMIT DAILY NEWS
With the Swan Mountain Road recpath only half finished, county officials are considering widening the road to accommodate a street-side path rather than building a separate path, as was previously envisioned.
Having an on-road recpath would cut the project costs by more than half and would make the road wider and thus safer in the winter when the recpath gets less use.
“Ideally, a separated path is the way to go,” assistant county manager Thad Noll said. “But because of the environmental impacts of a whole new cross-section of road, the construction constraints and the huge price tag, it's looking like this might be a better option.”
The rocky terrain of the land between Swan Mountain Road and the Dillon Reservoir, where the remainder of a separated recpath would be built, would make construction complicated and expensive. The cost of the project is estimated in the neighborhood of $9 million. A street-side recpath would cost closer to $4 million, Noll said.
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