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FeedBridge of Sighs
Even the most nostalgia-prone Aspenites have to feel good about the replacement of the Maroon Creek Bridge. Some old things—the Red Onion, Lift One, Carl’s Pharmacy—are worth clinging to. But a 120-year-old structure that conveyed more than 20,000 cars per day over a 90-foot drop and that recently claimed a “sufficiency rating” of nine out of 100? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, bridge.
The new $14 million span is a “standard highway bridge, elegant but simple” with a sufficiency rating of “about 100,” according to Joe Elsen of the Colorado Department of Transportation. It’s 72 feet wide, enough room for two general-purpose lanes and two dedicated bus lanes, plus a separate bike and pedestrian lane. It all feels pretty roomy until you reach the roundabout, where things squeeze back to two lanes through the S-Curves.
The old bridge will remain in place; with major upgrades, it may someday accommodate light rail. Originally built in 1888 for the Midland Railroad, it was converted to automobiles in 1929. Recently, it held the distinction of being the oldest state highway bridge in service in the state of Colorado. Something we tried not to think about when we drove across. Remember the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007? It had a sufficiency rating of 50. Granted, sufficiency ratings factor in many things, a low score doesn’t imply imminent collapse and the old bridge did receive improvements that boosted its rating to 24. But still—nine out of 100 for a time? So long, old bridge. We can’t say that we’ll miss you.
