Letter to Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of State - Congresswoman Lauren Boebert Supports Glenwood Springs' South Bridge Project

Letter

Dear Secretary Buttigieg,

As the Representative for the 3rd Congressional District of Colorado, I write in strong support for the City of Glenwood Springs's request for Rural Surface Transportation grant funding for the South Bridge Project. With Rural Surface Transportation grant funds, Glenwood Springs will construct a new bridge connection that will provide a critical second emergency route/evacuation access between State Highway 82 and the western side of the Roaring Fork River in the City's South Corridor.

The sole paved access route to the South Corridor is via Four Mile Road, Midland Avenue and 27th Street Bridge, which are vulnerable to closure during natural and man-made disaster incidents. A second bridge connection to SH 82 across the Roaring Fork River is needed to ensure safe travel and access for emergency vehicles and evacuees in the event of wildfires, coal seam fires, and other hazards. Evacuation modeling for the City of Glenwood Springs indicates that in the event of a catastrophic wildfire, the South Bridge would save countless lives that would otherwise be lost due to a backup of vehicles evacuating over Midland Avenue to the 27th Street Bridge.

The South Bridge project was included as a base project in the traffic model for the 2010 Corridor Optimization Plan developed by the City and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and adopted by the Colorado State Transportation Commission in that same year as a project critical to reducing congestion on SH 82 by keeping internal commuters on the City's internal roadway network.

The City of Glenwood Springs has worked closely with Garfield County, the CDOT, CDOT Region 3, and the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) throughout the development of the project. The local match commitment of $24 million includes a $20 million local cash match and a $4 million commitment from the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA). The City is requesting $33.1 million dollars in Rural Surface Transportation grant funds to complete this critical project.

Glenwood Springs' South Bridge Project aligns with the Rural Surface Transportation program's goals to improve and expand the surface transportation infrastructure in rural areas to increase connectivity, improve the safety and reliability of the movement of people, generate regional economic growth, and improve the quality of life for residents of the Lower Colorado River Valley and the Roaring Fork Valley. This connection will also reduce traffic congestion, improve safety along State Highway 82, and will protect hundreds of lives in the event of a fast-moving fire.

I would like to reiterate my strong support for the City of Glenwood Springs's request for Rural Surface Transportation grant funding for the South Bridge Project. I respectfully urge your full and fair consideration of this competitive grant application.

Source