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.
Tag: Data Desk
Stories carrying the Data Desk tag were either produced directly by the Aspen Journalism Data Desk, led by Laurine Lassalle, or benefitted from the assistance of our Data Desk. This often takes the form of data analysis to aid in reporting, creating data visualizations, maps or other graphics, or research into data sets and/or public records.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Real-time local streamflow
Rivers running below normal Local streams are flowing at 45-93% of normal in the Roaring Fork watershed as of April 30, while the Colorado River is running at 43% of average at Dotsero and 30% near the Colorado-Utah stateline. At Stillwater, located upstream of Aspen, the Roaring Fork River ran at 71 cfs on April […]
Posted inSocial justice
As data shows more detentions over 12 hours, Glenwood staff recommend upholding ICE facility’s permit before key P&Z meeting
Glenwood Springs officials are recommending that the city’s planning and zoning commission uphold a special use permit approved in 2003 for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s short-term holding facility and administrative office near the Glenwood Meadows shopping area, despite data that shows ICE detained people for over 12 hours at the site, in violation of the conditions of its permit.
Posted inSocial justice
Law enforcement from Aspen to Silt considers changes to street-camera surveillance in response to immigration concerns
Data-privacy concerns raised about Glenwood Springs’ Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras are widespread across the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, an Aspen Journalism analysis found. Local jurisdictions are now revisiting their policies to ensure they align with local values and state laws that limit how and when local law enforcement can assist with federal immigration arrests.
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 inWater
December water forecast a sobering backdrop to Colorado River conference
The high-stakes fourth tool — which water managers across the basin are counting on to rescue reservoirs, set a new management paradigm and provide long-term stability to the system — is new guidelines for how the reservoirs will be operated and shortages shared after 2026.
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
Private ski area proposal near Steamboat divides community
As Routt County awaits the first public hearing on a proposal to develop a private ski resort and elite enclave 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs, there is widespread anxiety and divisions across the community are deepening. Reanna Sullivan, whose hillside home faces the prospective ski area, ticks off concerns associated with many new high-end […]
Posted inSocial justice
New data confirms rising immigration arrests, and a changing profile of who gets detained
As the Trump administration carries out its promise to ramp up Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, recently released data confirms that a growing number of people have been arrested in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties.
Posted inLand Use
Boom in private clubs highlights tensions between belonging and exclusion
Club spaces can get “demonized,” because of their very nature: The same thing that gives one person a sense of belonging points out to another that they don’t belong.