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City, county wrap up long-term highway planning Plan covers local sections of Hwy. 50 and 135 Abby Harrison Times Staff Writer Bella Biondini Times Editor
In anticipation of the increased traffic congestion that inherently comes along with new development, a new plan will regulate how drivers enter and exit Hwy. 50 and Hwy. 135. The more access roads that lead from businesses, apartment complexes and other
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properties directly onto the highway, the greater the chance of car accidents. The danger only increases when cyclists and pedestrians are added to the mix, said Gunnison City Manager Amanda Wilson. The City of Gunnison and Gunnison County, alongside the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), are working on a highway “access control plan” for portions of Hwy. 50 and Hwy. 135 that run through town. Access control planning gives local governments the chance to talk about land use and traffic safety, and avoid the need for “ad hoc” changes to the configuration of the highways as the valley Access A6
VERY NICE ICE: Climbers ascend frozen faces at a section of the Lake City Ice Park known as the Beer Garden on Jan. 4. For more, see A9. (Photo by Mariel Wiley)
Blacklock named Court rules Gunnison Rising new head of RMBL Brings lien invalid engineering, management Gu n n i s o n R i si ng ow n e r Owners still Gunnison Valley Properties background working through (GVP) has already settled with two other local contrac- to role tors, Wesco Distribution and bankruptcy Spallone Construction. But GVP Bella Biondini court and Dietrich continue to spar in Abby Harrison Times Staff Writer
A Gunnison District Court judge has ruled that a multimillion dollar lien on the Gunnison Rising property is not valid due to a filing error, according to court records. Prior to the ruling, lawyers for the contractor Dietrich Dirtwork LLC were pushing to possibly force the sale of land to pay invoices.
court over details such as interest accruing on construction invoices — which could add or subtract hundreds of thousands of dollars to GVP’s final bill. Dietrich is one of the contractors hired to build Gunnison Rising, a 600-acre, multi-phased development just east of town. Dietrich and two other contractors sued GVP in 2023 for unpaid invoices, but the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy just under a year later, Rising A5
Times Editor
Jeni Blacklock has been chosen as the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory’s (RMBL) new executive director. She is the former dean of the Western Colorado University-CU Boulder partnership program, housed in the Rady School of Computer Science and Engineering. Founded in 1928, the research station is Gunnison County’s oldest nonprofit. RMBL, located just north of
Crested Butte in the historic Gothic townsite, attracts scientists from around the globe. It is a research hub due to the prolific amount of long-term data sets about the flora, fauna and climate in the high elevation mountain system. Ian Billick announced last summer that he would step away from his role as executive director, a position he has held for almost 25 years. After a national search and months of deliberation, the RMBL Board of Trustees selected Blacklock to be the research station’s next leader in late December. Billick said he believed her background — a blend of engineering, science and program building — would allow RMBL to expand the research opportunities in the valley. Blacklock has a PhD in biomedical engineering from the Max Planck Blacklock A6