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Gold Camp Road Will Open If Money is Found

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 03:00 CDT

The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that it will reopen to traffic a longclosed portion of historic Gold Camp Road -- but only if someone else pays for it.

The decision means there are some daunting financial challenges to overcome before a single car winds its way up the twisty, 8.5- mile section of dirt road that was closed when a railroad tunnel it passes through partly collapsed in 1988.

Pike/San Isabel Forest Supervisor Bob Leaverton said the road will be reopened only if non-Forest Service funds are found to repair the road and railroad tunnel, a $1.2 million job.

Further, the road will be reopened to vehicles only if a third party agrees to operate the road during the summer and absorb the expected $50,000 a year cost of maintaining the road.

Leaverton said he couldn't see any group stepping forward to do that without charging users a toll or fee, which he said the Forest Service would consider.

He said the specifics of operating the road -- whether it would be opened some days to cars and others to bicyclists, for example -- would be negotiated with the third party. The Forest Service will insist the 8-mile section of road be just one way, from north to south.

He said the decision is an acknowledgment that federal funding priorities have changed and that money to repair the road won't come from the U.S. Forest Service budget.

"It may never be opened if no funding appears," said Brent Botts, the district ranger for the Pike National Forest.

If that happens, Botts said, the agency will find the money to repair railroad Tunnel 3, which has received federal historic designation, and to repair the road enough to allow emergency and administrative access only.

Reaction from those who either opposed or supported the road reopening was muted, if only because of the uncertainties the plan presents.

"It's a reasonable nonsion. It's a punt," said Lee Milner of the Trails and Open Space Coalition, a group that has long opposed reopening the road. Since its closure, the 8-mile section of Gold Camp Road has become a popular hiking and mountain-biking area.

Milner thinks the money to repair the tunnel and road could be raised easily through private donations and preservation and government grants. But he said finding a private group or public agency to operate a short section of road over difficult terrain -- and only during the summer -- will be far more difficult.

"I can't see a private concessionaire making any money," he said. "It has to be a public agency, and I don't see why any of them would be interested. There are some steep hurdles to overcome, and I think that's what the Forest Service wanted. And that's reasonable."

Joleen Thompson of the steering committee Champions of the Gold Camp Trail said the decision is an acknowledgment that reopening the road is an enormous project, and the Forest Service doesn't have the money to do it. She believes the cost of repairing the road and tunnel is going to be far higher than has been estimated.

"I guess (the decision) is kind of an open-ended situation because it doesn't solve any problems," said Thompson, who owns a home in the Gold Camp area and has worked since 1992 to keep the road a trail.

"In the end, it probably leaves more questions than it answers," she said. "It will be interesting to see if anyone steps up to the plate and volunteers to be guardians. The third party is going to be a big, big step."

Barbara von Hoffmann, a board member of the nonprofit group Short Line to Cripple Creek Inc., which has fought for a decade to reopen the road, welcomed the Forest Service's decision. But she's not sure of all the implications.

"What can I say? It's kind of nebulous in a way," she said. "I'm glad they want to reopen Gold Camp Road. But it's not clear-cut at all. Who is this third party going to be? So it's disappointing in that respect."

Whitney Galbraith, another member of the nonprofit, doesn't think raising money to fix the tunnel and road will be a problem.

He said that in the late 1990s his group had solicited commitments of nearly $400,000 from individuals and historical groups to repair the tunnel. The fundraising was abandoned after Champions of Gold Camp Trail and other opponents filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service in 2000.

He said finding a third party to operate the road will be a "work of continuing experimentation."

Now that the decision has been made -- after more than a year of public meetings and an extensive environmental study -- the Forest Service will appoint an advisory board to find funding for repair work and solicit interest from private or public groups to operate the road. Botts said it could be fall before such a group is formed.

THE NEXT STEP

A 45-day appeal begins July 15, with the publication of the Gold Camp Road decision in the Federal Register. Appeals should be addressed to: USDA Forest Service, Region 2; Attn: Appeal Deciding Officer; P.O. Box 25127, Lakewood, CO, 80225-0127.

For information or to read the decision, visit www.fs.fed.us/r2/ psicc/pp. Click on Gold Camp Road Issues.

Give your opinion on the future of Gold Camp Road: www.gazette.com

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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