Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative Section 5 Alternatives 62 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative 5.0 Summit County Extension: Alternatives The Summit County Extension: Design Narrative describes the action alternatives for connecting the Tenmile Canyon Recpath at Copper Mountain to the terminus of the Climax segment of the pathway at the northern boundary of the Climax property, as well as alternative routes explored in the field that were reviewed but not advanced for further study due to environmental, physical, or budgetary constraints, or reviewed but not considered to be feasible or constructible. 5.1 Alternative 1: No Action Under the No Action Alternative, no development of a separated Pathway or expansion of the roadway surface to better accommodate bicycle travel would be pursued over Fremont Pass. The Bicycle Level of Service would remain extremely low, and the local, regional, and statewide goals for improved intermodal connectivity of the Summit and Lake County Bicycle Pathway Systems would remain unsatisfied. Photo Plate 50 Existing condition Lack of shoulder width to accommodate safe shared use of the road surface 63 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative 5.2 Action Alternative 2: Historic Rail Grade Alignment (Preferred Alternative) Preliminary pathway layout considerations have prioritized following an alignment that overlays the historic route of the Highline Extension of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad. 5.2.1 Historic Context: DSP&P Highline Extension Map 4 Historic Rail Lines: Fremont Pass The preferred alignment for the Summit County Extension of the Fremont Recpath follows the rail bed of the historic High Line Extension of the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad (DSP&P). The “South Park” railroad started building its High Line Extension in 1881 to tap the vast riches coming from Breckenridge, Leadville, Kokomo, Robinson, and other mining camps along the line. Route of the DSP&P High Line Extension, reorganized as the DL&G RR, and finally as the C&S RR prior to abandonment in 193712 The route went northwestward from Como, across Boreas Pass to Breckenridge, north to Frisco, then westward along the east side of Tenmile Creek, up Tenmile Canyon to the Summit of Fremont Pass (Map 4). 12 Osterwald, Doris B., High Line to Leadville, 1891 Map of Railroads in the Leadville Area, North Map. 64 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative Photo Plate 51 DSP&P Highline Extension, Climax Mill After crossing the Continental Divide at Climax, 11,318 feet above sea level, the narrow gauge line followed the east side of the East Fork of the Arkansas River southward to the Leadville mining camp. Engine 641 switching at the Climax Mill, Fremont Pass13 The first DSP&P passenger train to traverse the High Line left Leadville for Denver at 8:45 AM on the morning of September 30, 1884. The “South Park”, known locally as the “Seldom Punctual” railroad, cut 126 miles off of the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) route to Denver through Salida and Pueblo, but operations were far more difficult because the Highline crossed the Continental Divide twice, at Fremont and Boreas Passes. Plate 52 Freight train nearing Climax High construction and operational costs, coupled with a decline in mining activity and freight traffic forced the DSP&P into receivership, and in May of 1889, the company was reorganized as the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway (DL&G). Helper engines required to pull the grades to the Fremont Summit.14 With the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and crash of the silver market in 1893, the silver mining industry went “bust”, and along with it, the high demand for rail 13 Denver Public Library, Western History Dept. 14 Colorado Railroad Museum 65 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative freight. The DL&G railroad was sold at foreclosure to the Colorado & Southern Railroad (C&S) on December 19, 1898. The C&S continued its narrow gauge operations on the Highline between Leadville and Dillon into the late 1930’s. The last C&S passenger train left the Leadville Station for Denver on April 4, 1937, and the Leadville to Dillon section of the Highline was subsequently abandoned. Only that section of rail between Leadville and Climax remained open for freight traffic. It was converted to Standard Gauge in 1943 to move molybdenum to the market to aid in the war effort. The last run of the C&S freight train to Climax was in October of 1986. Today, the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad functions as a tourist train on the remnants of the C&S Highline between Leadville and Climax. Plate 53 Cultural Resources Although the rail bench itself has been modified from its original condition to accommodate adaptive re- use as an industrial corridor, remnants of the significant railroad history are evident along the route and can be used to interpret the role of railroads in opening the Central Colorado Rockies to exploration and settlement. Remains of a cabin adjacent to the Highline rail grade 66 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative 5.2.2 Historic Context: Blue River Extension, D&RG Railway Plate 54 Blue River Extension The Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RGW) began construction of it’s Blue River Extension from Leadville to Climax along the west side of the Arkansas River in 1880, reaching the summit of Fremont Pass on November 15, 1880. Construction continued northward to the mining camp of Kokomo in December of that year. The mining camps of Kokomo, Robinson and Recen, along with the sections of the D&RG and CSP&P rail lines that served them, are now buried beneath Climax tailings impoundments. D&RGW Railway, Blue River Extension, Chalk Creek Trestle, Lake County, Colorado Construction of the Blue River Extension continued down the west side of Tenmile Creek to Wheeler Junction (Copper Mountain) in 1881. The D&RG Railroad opened rail service between Leadville and Dillon on November 13, 1882. The Blue River Extension between Leadville and Dillon was abandoned on December 1, 1923. Plate 55 Blue River Extension rail bed Sections of the Blue River Extension, north of the Sorrel Pass Road intersection with Highway 91 (Alternative 5) were reviewed as a possible route for the Fremont Recpath west of Tenmile Creek, but were not advanced for further study due to significant environmental and geologic constraints, and the burial of sections of the historic rail bed as a result of the construction of Highway 91. (See: Section 5.4, Alternatives Reviewed but not advanced for further study) Rail bed of the D&RGW Blue River Extension buried under the fill slope of Highway 91 67 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative 5.2.3 Selection as Preferred Alternative The Historic Rail Grade was selected as the Preferred Alternative in recognition of its significance as an historic transportation corridor, and its physical characteristics: Its historic rail grades (1-5%) and rail geometry are consistent with recommended AASHTO guidelines for safe bicycle travel; The alignment has already been re-purposed as a utility corridor for electrical, gas, and communications infrastructure; Timber clearing along the access corridor has been maintained by the utilities, minimizing requirements for new tree clearing; The rail grade had historically been benched into the hillside in a manner that would accommodate placement of the pathway prism on the topography with minimal new ground disturbance. The separated Pathway isolates bicyclists from interaction with highway traffic and improves the visual and auditory quality of the mountain riding experience; The separated Pathway bypasses the section of Highway 91 referred to as the “Narrows”, significantly improving rider safety and the Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS); In combination, these design elements serve to limit the environmental impact of new pathway construction on the landscape, making adaptive re-use of the historically significant rail line the County’s preferred alternative. Plate 56 Tenmile Canyon Recpath The rail line parallels the eastern bank of Tenmile Creek at climbing grades of 1 to 5% that once accommodated narrow gauge passenger and freight trains that ran between Leadville and Dillon from 1884 through 1937. Sections of the historic Highline rail bed are already in pathway use in Summit County, underlying the paved Tenmile Canyon Recpath section from Frisco to Copper Mountain. Copper to Frisco Section of the Tenmile Canyon Recpath Constructed over the historic rail bed of the DSP&P Highline Railroad 68 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative Plate 57 Typical section, DSP&P Railroad, Highline to Leadville The section of the Highline rail grade between Dillon and Leadville was abandoned prior to the 1983 Congressional amendment of Section 8 (d) of the National Trails System Act that created “rail banking” provisions to preserve rail corridors through conversion to interim trails. As such, the reversionary clause on the Railroad right-or-way transferred ownership of the land beneath the track to the underlying land owner, in this case the U.S.D.A Forest Service, upon abandonment DSP&P Highline to Leadville rail bed, Summit County, Colorado Plate 58 Historical railway infrastructure Track and rails along the original rail bed were removed following abandonment of the C&S Railroad line between Wheeler Junction (Copper Mountain) and the summit of Fremont Pass in 1937. Remnants are still visible along the corridor. 69 Fremont Recpath Summit County Extension Design Narrative 5.2.4 Re-purposing for Industrial Use The corridor currently accommodates overhead and underground electrical, natural gas, communications, and CATV utility line easements. Plate 59 Industrial Corridor overlaying the DSP&P Highline rail bed Plate 60 Timber and slash clearing to maintain the corridor The bench into the hillside has been modified to provide additional width for construction and maintenance of buried and overhead utilities.