The
Crestone Eagle, October 2007:
Traffic impact study presented; BOCC
to make route decision this fall
by Lisa Cyriacks
The question of which route to be used for access
to the northern boundary of the Great Sand Dunes National
Park will soon be decided by the Saguache County Board of
County Commissioners. The commissioners have indicated that
their decision on which route would be made by November 20.
As part of their decision-making, Chris McGranahan of LSC
Transportation Consultants, Inc. made a presentation of the
results of a traffic impact study at the Sonoran Institute’s
Re-convening of the Collaborative on September 15.
At the end of the Sonoran process in November 2006, no consensus
was reached to designate a route through the Baca Grande subdivision
to the northern boundary of the National Park Service. At
that time, Liberty Road Gate at the south end of Camino Baca
Grande became the default access onto the Park until a decision
by the county commissioners could be made. Regardless of which
point of access—Liberty Road Gate or the end of Camino
Real—ongoing access to the north boundary will remain
non-motorized beyond the access point.
 Three
proposed routes were selected and analyzed according to the
following decision-making criteria: travel distance and time,
posted speed limits, impacts to and from existing and future
land uses, view corridors, potential for complete streets,
horizontal alignment (curves), vertical alignment (hills),
environmental impact to NPS land, magnitude and timing of
recommended improvements, secondary emergency and evacuation
route. Due to the restriction on public access by the Baca
National Wildlife Refuge, only routes through the subdivision
were considered.
Alternative A is Camino Baca Grande to Wagon Wheel to Camino
del Rey and back to Camino Baca Grande to the Liberty Road
Gate. Alternative C is Camino Baca Grande to Camino Real.
Alternative D is using the existing Property Owners Association
easement/Water & San District sewer line connecting to
Spanish Creek Trail in the subdivision to Camino Real.
Alternative A scored high for compliance with the existing
posted speed limits, view corridors, potential for complete
streets, existing vertical alignment (hills), environmental
impact to public lands, and magnitude and timing of recommended
improvements to realize an acceptable alignment. Alternative
C scored high for the view corridors and existing horizontal
alignment (curves). Alternative D scored high for the impact
to and from the existing and future Baca Grande land uses,
view corridors, existing horizontal alignment, and secondary
emergency or evacuation route.
According to Chris McGranahan’s calculations, Alternative
D scored significantly better as a long-term solution in two
very important categories: the impact to and from the existing
and future Baca Grande land uses, and the secondary emergency
or evacuation route. The first category is tied primarily
to buildout in the subdivision and the number of existing
and potential driveways that could create traffic hazards
along a publicized route. Alternative D presented the least
potential number of driveways due to the fact it uses a route
through open space and continues through the Grants where
lot density is significantly less than Chalets I or II.
Chris McGranahan (LSC Transportation Consultants, Inc) indicated
that he felt the necessity of a second ingress/egress to the
subdivision of paramount importance, which is why he has made
the recommendation of Alternative D. Given the size of the
subdivision and the concerns expressed locally about public
safety, he was surprised that a second ingress/egress did
not already exist. In addition, Alternative D also passes
adjacent to and partially through the US F&WS land and
could be constructed with pullouts for wildlife viewing, thereby
adding to the view corridor possibilities.
The Sonoran Institute was engaged in 2006 to assist in resolving
federal and private conflicts over public land access. At
the end of the 2006 process, a consensus document was prepared—the
North Entrance Study Group Consensus Recommendation Report.
One of those recommendations of that report was to have a
study prepared that would analyze the impacts additional traffic
would have on the community along the various possible routes.
Also part of that consensus process was the formation of a
committee to implement recommendations. That committee is
the North Access Team. The North Access Team met many times
over the intervening months and worked with the traffic impact
consultant to develop the study and recommendations for consideration
by the Saguache County commissioners.
Minutes of the NAT meetings can be accessed on the Saguache
County website http://www.saguachecounty.net. Presentations
from the Sonoran Institute public meetings are also available
on that same website. For further information or to find out
about subsequent county commissioners’ meetings on this
issue or the next meeting of the North Access Team, please
contact Saguache County Administration at 655-2321 or look
for agendas posted on the county website: www.saguachecounty.net.
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