Rivers running well below normal Local streams are flowing at 25-45% of normal in the Roaring Fork watershed as of May 31, while the Colorado River is running at 19% of average at Dotsero and 22% near the Colorado-Utah stateline. At Stillwater, located upstream of Aspen, the Roaring Fork River ran at 78.6 cfs on […]
Author Archives: Laurine Lassalle
Laurine Lassalle is Aspen Journalism’s data desk editor, where she works to catalog and analyze local public data. She has a master’s degree in data and investigative journalism from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on environmental reporting.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Real time snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin
Snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin completely melted by May 15, two weeks earlier than last year.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Alternate route into Aspen now included in traffic counts
An analysis of a calendar year’s worth of data confirms that the side-entrance traffic makes up a significant portion of total traffic, as drivers seek to beat the gridlock that typically chokes Highway 82 during the morning and afternoon peak periods. Added together, vehicle counts from Highway 82 and Power Plant Road through all of 2025 show last year’s traffic approaching a 1993 threshold established as a benchmark to stay below.
Posted inSocial justice
California firm buys up seven Western Slope mobile home parks
A 39-unit manufactured home community in Rifle that a California real estate investment firm purchased in December is part of a portfolio of seven Western Slope parks consisting of more than 700 homesites and recently acquired by the company.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Record high temperatures compound low-snowpack problems
Temperature and precipitation data in the Roaring Fork Valley shows that most of this winter has experienced above-average temperatures with below-average precipitation, making this season one of the hottest and driest on record.
Posted inThe second coming of Albert Schweitzer
French book highlights Aspen’s efforts to elevate Albert Schweitzer legacy
Local efforts to recenter the philosophies of French-German humanist Albert Schweitzer as morally and culturally imperative in modern Aspen have been recognized in a French book written by authors from his home region.
Posted inEnvironment
As e-bike use grows, so do accidents
More than 60% of the bike and e-bike accidents on Pitkin County OST’s properties involved an e-bike, as they become increasingly popular among locals and visitors.
Posted inEnvironment
Transportation coalition seeks consensus on high-occupancy toll, congestion-pricing recommendations
The Transportation Coalition for the 21st Century has narrowed down its potential recommendations for relieving traffic congestion in the Roaring Fork Valley to two scenarios: congestion pricing or a hybrid plan that would start with a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane and work toward congestion pricing. Both scenarios include carpooling and public-transit incentives.
Posted inEnvironment
RFTA to study how Rio Grande Trail’s railroad corridor can be used for mass transit
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority will consider new ways to use its railroad corridor, which extends from Glenwood Springs to Woody Creek and includes the popular Rio Grande Trail, to alleviate traffic on Highway 82 and respond to the valley’s transportation needs.
Posted inEnvironment
Carrots won’t cut upper-valley congestion without sticks
The preferred alternative is projected to have a negligible impact on congestion, and in some cases makes it worse. “If that’s all we do, we’re stuck with an hour and seven minutes from Brush Creek to the S-curve basically, and that is not a happy picture,” said John Bennett, a former Aspen mayor and a coalition co-founder.