Sunday, October 28, 2007

Aspen Trail



I finally got to see one of my first trails in it's constructed splendor this past week. I designed the engineering for the Old Stage Trail near the Monarch Golf Course in Aspen. The city had the ribbon cutting ceremony for the trail and my boss & I attended it. It's the first time I got to attend one of those as well. It hit me as I was standing there.. holy cow.. I have a designed and constructed path in Aspen, who would have ever guessed? I just wish I could be responsible for the landscape design too becasue that rocked, or will rock come this spring. I don't think I could have ever dreamt when I was a child that this is what I would have under my belt.

The day started at four in the morning and we finally hit Aspen at about 10:30 a.m. We also checked out two of our other projects in Basalt and Glenwood Springs. It's so exciting to be a part of a city's plans to build a new bicycle path or path(s). I am starting a new trail design for the County of Boulder and should be finishing up a design for the City of Peoria in Arizona. That project has had it's own challenges because there is a whole new set of State guidelines that need to be followed that aren't even close to the State of Colorado.

This past Saturday, I participated in the Boulder Underground tour. The tour involved an eight mile bike ride to three underpasses that were just opening up. So, I got to see three more ribbon cutting ceremonies this week. Two of the underpasses were designed by my office. There are now 74 underpasses in Boulder just for bicycles! That's impressive!

On to the next design. Check out more pictures of the Old Stage Trail in Aspen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/KKNelson75/OldStageTrail