The Eagle Valley Trail is nearly complete, but the last segments will be more expensive than expected
Current estimate ranges from $54 to $64 million
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
The last 7.5 miles of the Eagle Valley Trail were always going to be the most difficult and expensive to complete. But the degree of difficulty is now coming into focus.
At a Tuesday work session with the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, project manager Kevin Sharkey provided an update about some of the options for finishing the trail between Horn Ranch and Edwards. All the options are expensive, but some come with truly eyebrow-raising cost estimates — between $54 and $64 million. Some of those estimates depend on options that still need to be determined.
Sharkey said work will start this year on relatively short segments between Horn Ranch, roughly in the middle of Red Canyon, and the Colorado Department of Transportation maintentance yard just west of Wolcott. Work on that 1.7 mile segment is expected to cost $16 million. That segment, and the next, a 0.7-mile segment between the maintenance yard and Wolcott, required working with state transportation officials on right of way.
Sharkey said original plans called for moving U.S. Highway 6. But current plans call for moving the trail behind the maintenance yard. The final design should be ready in the next month or so, he said. The plans should be ready to go to bid by late June.
The total estimate is $27.1 million to get the trail from Horn Ranch to the intersection of Colorado Highway 131. Work is expected to be done this year and into 2026.
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The next segment covers the Wolcott intersection to a Bureau of Land Management fishing bridge to the east — a 2.7-mile segment. That segment, expected to be built in 2026, comes with an estimated price of $11.6 million.
That segment could be built through the proposed residential development at Wolcott, a far less expensive alternative to essentially building parallel to Highway 6. Building parallel to the roadway will require retaining walls and other expensive work, so Sharkey recommended that the commissioners wait until the fate of the residential development is determined.
By far, the most expensive segment is the final 3.8-mile stretch into Edwards.
Sharkey said there are currently three options.
A few years ago, county officials had a handshake agreement to run the trail across open space owned by Cordillera. Sharkey said that the agreement no longer exists. That leaves options including running along Highway 6, which includes covering a ditch — an option in which only two of the three owners of the ditch are currently in agreement — and an option that includes running alongside the railroad tracks. Running along the highway is the most expensive option, and there are always questions when dealing with the railroad, given the Union Pacific Railroad’s long-running reputation for not being responsive to local interests.
Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney advised Sharkey to keep working on renewing contacts with Cordillera, and County Manager Jeff Shroll noted that county officials now have an actual person to talk to at the Union Pacific.
Meanwhile, Robin Thompson, who’s been leading fundraising efforts, said progress on the last segments could help build enthusiasm on that front.
Commissioner Tom Boyd said that while private fundraising may feel like a “drop in the bucket,” the more work that can be done on that front, more awareness will raise the profile of the project.
