Eagle wants a seat at the table for new I-70 airport interchange project
Gypsum looking for verbal commitment from neighbors as it seeks funds from Congress
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Members of the Eagle Town Council on Tuesday expressed interest in working with the town of Gypsum to create a new Interstate 70 interchange near the Eagle County Regional Airport.
The estimated $150 million effort is expected to require three more years of planning, and the town of Gypsum in January hired a $1.1 million consultant to guide it through that process.
The town of Gypsum is expecting to encounter some bureaucratic hurdles leading up to the issuance of state, federal and railroad approvals, and the project could see some local resistance, as well. In approving geotechnical consulting firm HDR, Inc. on Jan. 13, Gypsum Engineer Matt Figgs was asked if he was aware of any opposition to the project.
“There are always people opposed to these projects,” he said. “Big projects like this are always hot topics, but I think we have a lot of great information and data that shows why this is a really big need.”
Town of Eagle Interim Town Manager Melissa Daruna on Tuesday asked the Eagle Town Council if there was support among the council for the new interchange. While the project didn’t receive a resounding yes among the seven-member body, no opposition was voiced.
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“I think the town ought to have a seat at the table,” said Council member Gina McCrackin.
“There’s no harm in listening,” said Council member Scott Schreiner.
‘We’ll probably need to budget for this’
Financial support for the project from the town of Eagle, however, “would be an entirely different discussion,” Schreiner added.
Council member Geoff Grimmer said some financial support from Eagle may be inevitable if the town wants to support the project.
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“We want to be a good partner, and whether we like it or not, we’ll probably need to budget for this as well,” Grimmer said.
Daruna said while the town of Gypsum is not seeking financial support from the town of Eagle at this time, the verbal support from Eagle will help Gypsum as it seeks additional funds from Congress.
“Their next step now is to start looking for design funding,” Daruna said. “They’re getting questions back just wanting to make sure that the communities that are neighboring Gypsum and the county itself are in support of this proposal, as well.”
The project would build a new interchange on I-70 at milepost 143 — about halfway between Gypsum’s existing interchange at milepost 140, and the town of Eagle exit at milepost 147 — along with a connector road linking the interstate to Cooley Mesa Road. That road would provide a direct route from the interstate to the eastern part of Gypsum and the Eagle County Regional Airport area.
“The project will ensure faster emergency access, provide vital alternate routes during disasters, decrease heavy truck traffic on our local roads, and improve our quality of life,” representatives from the town of Gypsum, Eagle County, the Eagle County Regional Airport and the Vail Valley Partnership wrote in a letter in support of the project in December.
New approach to railroad approvals
The I-70 Eagle airport interchange project was started in the 2000s, with CDOT conducting an environmental assessment and examining the project’s required railroad crossing, but it was shelved in 2010 due to lack of funding. In 2024 the town of Gypsum decided to bring it back.
In recommending HDR for selection, Figgs cited the firm’s experience in getting comparable projects to the finish line. Figgs said the I-25 and Crystal Valley interchange project, which is being undertaken by the town of Castle Rock with HDR as the consultant, is a good example of a similar project.
“It was early 2000s design, NEPA was done, it crosses a railroad and got shelved because of lack of funding, and then the town decided to bring it back,” Figgs said. “They hired HDR to work through all the NEPA process, to work with (the railroad), to work with the feds, and it’s actually under construction right now. So it’s a great road map for us.”
A big difference between the two projects, however, is the I-25 project will construct a new bridge over the railroad, while the I-70 project will seek to create an at-grade crossing, which will require a key approval from Union Pacific. While the town initially contemplated seeking that approval in 2026, Figgs said Gypsum has altered its approach in that regard and will seek state assistance first.
“Approvals won’t come from the railroad formally until the end of year three,” Figgs told the Gypsum Town Council in January. “Our strategy is going to be a little bit different; instead of approaching the railroad right away, we’re going to approach the state PUC commission, because they deal with a lot of at-grade crossings and have actually been an ally to a lot of local towns trying to work through processes with the railroad.”
