Public Forum on Grant Application Set for Nov. 12

RIDGWAY – If Ouray County receives close to $16 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funds to improve County Road 1 between Colona and State Highway 62, the Ouray Board of County Commissioners will then have to weigh the pros and cons of the project, which would pave the road and bring jobs to the area, but also provide Montrose-Telluride commuters and alternative route that would bypass the Town of Ridgway’s business district.

The commissioners approved the grant application on Sept. 14, which seeks $15,952,175 for repairs and reconstruction of CR 1 and a portion of County Roads 24 and 24D. If granted, the money would be used for highway paving, widening and drainage improvements to the roadway. This includes the removal of existing chip seal, the placement of new asphalt, and improvements to the intersection of CR 24D and Highway 62. When the grant application was approved last month, the commissioners emphasized that the public will be given time to comment on the proposed project if it is funded. Because of tight grant deadlines, a full public process could not take place prior to the application deadline.

While it remains to be seen if the county will receive the grant money, Montrose county has already sparked some opposition to the project.

“I have some pretty serious concerns about the grant application and about County Road 1 calling it a bypass,” Ridgway Mayor Pro Tem John Clark told Commissioner Keith Meinert and County Administrator Connie Hunt at last week’s Ridgway Town Council meeting. Meinert and Hunt were in attendance at the meeting to discuss an unrelated intergovernmental agreement. “I know that a [Town of Ridgway] letter of support was written for it, but I was pretty concerned that council didn’t weigh in on that. It wasn’t handled very well from a communications standpoint.”

In response, Meinert told Clark that he accepts his criticism and recognizes that a public process has not been played out yet, but that was only because the timing of the application deadline didn’t allow for a public process.

“We recognize that this is a shortcoming and it is a serious shortcoming because we have criticized Montrose County for its road and bridge proposals not following a public process,” Meinert said. “I don’t want to be seen in the same light. What I have said in our defense is that if we are so fortunate to get the grant, we are not committed to actually carrying out the project, or we can pull the grant application before they act on it.”

Hunt took the opportunity to clarify the point that the application was strictly for improvements on CR 1 and it was not intended in any way to create any sort of bypass.

In fact, she said, the word “bypass” was never used in the application and that members of the local press used the word incorrectly in their initial reporting on the grant application last month. The word “stirs the public,” she said, resulting in things getting blown out of proportion.

“It is unfortunate that the word bypass was used,” Mayor Pat Willits said in agreement.

As phrased in the grant application, the improvement to CR 1 “will provide a shorter, improved alternative route for the transport of goods and services between the City of Montrose and the western portion of Ouray County as well as Towns of Telluride and Mountain Village, making transport cheaper and more timely.” Moreover, the application states that the proposed project “will significantly enhance user mobility through creation of a more convenient, shorter, and safer option to the U.S. 550 and SH 62 corridor through Ouray County.”

Whether its referred to as a bypass or an alternative route, there is a growing concern among some Ridgway businesses that, despite the jobs and needed infrastructure a $16 million grant could bring, the project may direct commuter traffic away from Ridgway during a struggling economy.

“The county needs to the take the time to figure out what the causes and effects of this will be on businesses,” Ridgway Conoco Manager Jerry Classi said in an interview on Tuesday. “What this Conoco and the Shell station across the street contribute in sales tax collection to the county and the [town] is pretty big. I am not sure it will be worth it. My question is what is the county and [town] doing to assist us in drawing more business?”

Meinert said the public will have its first opportunity to comment on the grant/project at a public meeting, which will be held Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Ouray County 4-H Event Center in Ridgway at 6:30 p.m.

“What I encourage is the Town of Ridgway and particularly your chamber of commerce to start a dialogue to be able to provide a unified voice to the county on your concerns or support of the project,” Meinert suggested at the meeting, “and whether or not the notion of a bypass is a game breaker.”

More information on the proposed project can be found at www.ouraycountyco.gov/CR1TIGER.html.