Colorado State Highway 82
State Highway 82 is an state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado. Its western half provides the principal transportation artery of the Roaring Fork Valley on the Colorado Western Slope, beginning at Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 6 in Glenwood Springs southeast past Carbondale, Basalt and Aspen. From there it continues up the valley to cross the Continental Divide at Independence Pass. On the Eastern Slope, it follows Lake Creek past some of Colorado's highest mountains to Twin Lakes Reservoir, where it ends at US 24 south of Leadville.
At above sea level, the traverse of Independence Pass is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in North America, and the highest paved through road on Colorado's state highway network. The pass is closed during the winter months, isolating Aspen from the east and making Highway 82 the only way to reach the popular ski resort town by road. A private foundation has worked with the Colorado Department of Transportation, which maintains the road, to undo environmental damage to the alpine tundra created when a disused stagecoach route built across the pass during the Colorado Silver Boom of the 1880s became Highway 82 in the early 20th century.
West of Aspen the highway follows the route of an early Colorado Midland Railroad route from the city to Glenwood Springs. Paved during the 1930s, this road has been gradually expanded to four lanes over the course of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The increased traffic resulting from Aspen's economic rebirth as a resort town has required high-occupancy vehicle lanes, bypasses and the replacement of at least one old bridge. More improvements are planned for both Aspen and Glenwood Springs.
Route description
From its western terminus to Aspen, Highway 82 is a four-lane road, frequently divided. As it leaves Aspen, it narrows to two lanes and remains that way to its eastern terminus. Two sets of gates on either side of Independence Pass allow the road to be closed in winter.Glenwood Springs to Carbondale
Highway 82 begins at Exit 116 from I-70 in Glenwood Springs, just east of the Roaring Fork's confluence with the Colorado River. It follows Laurel Street north for one block, then turns east on Sixth Street for another block, after which it turns south on Grand Avenue. From there it crosses both I-70 and the Colorado River on a viaduct past the train station into downtown Glenwood Springs.It continues south through blocks of small-scale dense urban development to 14th Street. Glenwood Springs High School is on the west just past the intersection heralds the end of downtown. For two blocks the land around the road becomes a commercial strip with large parking lots. At Hyland Park on the east just afterwards, the land across the road is devoted to larger houses on larger lots. Strip development resumes on the west side south of 19th Street, two blocks west of Valley View Hospital. At 23rd Street, Highway 82 turns southeast to follow South Glen Avenue, paralleling the adjacent Rio Grande rail trail. Development along the highway becomes predominantly commercial, and south of 27th Street a continuous strip begins on the east side as the valley narrows. After passing Rosebud Cemetery on the west side, Highway 82 turns more to the southeast and draws alongside the Roaring Fork as it reaches the city limits.
Following the river's bend, the road returns to its southern heading as most development focuses around Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport on the opposite bank. At its next easterly turn, the landscape around the road becomes more rural, with farms and golf courses appearing. The terrain remains generally level, at about above sea level.
A mile south of the airport, at a signalized intersection with Old State Route 82, the road divides. Highway 82 turns eastward again, returning to its southerly heading after another mile when Spring Valley Road turns off to the Glenwood Springs campus of Colorado Mountain College in the mountains to the north. A half-mile beyond that junction, at the headquarters of the Garfield County Road and Bridge District, the highway begins a long stretch with a southerly heading.
After two miles, the road bends to the southeast amidst a valley with occasional subdivisions. Two more miles down the highway, at a rest area, Highway 82 turns east as it enters the city of Carbondale across the river. A mile from the rest area, a traffic signal controls the intersection with State Highway 133, the only other state highway to intersect 82 for its entire length. From Carbondale, Highway 133 leads south to Redstone and McClure Pass along the valley of a tributary of the Roaring Fork, the Crystal River. To the south the Mount Sopris dominates the view.
Carbondale to Aspen
A mile east of Highway 133, the valley floor widens, filled with farms and subdivisions as the road gently trends to the south. east of Carbondale, Highway 82 crosses into Eagle County. Subdivisions begin to increase in the surrounding valley and the road soon turns to the south again as it passes a built-up area and then crosses the Roaring Fork. A mile and a half after that Highway 82 crosses the Roaring Fork, and then enters Pitkin County at the small unincorporated community of Emma.Basalt is one mile due east. The intersection with Basalt Avenue, the main route into that town from Highway 82, has a signal. Between Glenwood Springs and Basalt, Highway 82 climbs in elevation. As it alternately tracks southeast and south over the next towards Aspen, it begins to climb more noticeably and the valley narrows. Development becomes less dense, with many small ranches located aside the road and along the river. south of Basalt, after another crossing of the Roaring Fork, the right lanes in both directions are marked with diamonds indicating they are high-occupancy vehicle lanes during peak hours. The median is soon replaced with a guardrail, then a brief retaining wall where the eastbound roadway is slightly elevated.
The ascent continues near Woody Creek. As Aspen–Pitkin County Airport appears on the west of the road, south of Woody Creek, the roadways merge as development around the highway increases.
Beyond the airport, Highway 82 turns due south. It bends to the southeast to cross the new Maroon Creek Bridge, with the original, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, immediately to its south. At this point, with a golf course on the north side, the Aspen city limit begins to follow the road, and by the time it goes through a roundabout and passes the Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum to the south it is fully in the city of Aspen. Another stream crossing, Castle Creek, brings the highway into the developed portion of the city.
Aspen to Independence Pass
From Basalt, Highway 82 has climbed. It levels out at Aspen, entering the city's residential West End along West Hallam Street. A block east of Castle Creek, it turns south on North Seventh Street; the intersection's southwest corner has been rounded to smooth the traffic flow, leaving a triangular traffic island in the middle of the road. Two blocks further south, at another intersection with a rounded corner, SH 82 turns east to follow West Main Street across Aspen.Five blocks east, at Garmisch Street, it becomes East Main Street. The buildings gradually change from residential to commercial, and at Mill Street Highway 82 passes one of Aspen's major landmarks, the Hotel Jerome, also listed on the National Register. Two blocks further is another listed landmark, the Pitkin County Courthouse, between Galena and Hunter streets.
After the Spring Street intersection another two blocks past the courthouse, Main Street curves to the south, narrowing in the process. It is now a two-lane road. Two blocks to the south, SH 82 turns east again to follow East Cooper Avenue, crossing the Roaring Fork again after another two blocks. The highway curves southward, leaving Aspen three-quarters of a mile further east.
The valley narrows into a canyon as the road begins to climb again, closely hugging the north wall. east of the city, just past Targert Lake Road, it passes the gates where the road is closed in wintertime. Past this point development along the road abates as most of the land alongside the road is part of White River National Forest. On the north side of the road are some of Aspen's more popular climbing cliffs; on the south side are many small parking areas for trailheads, campgrounds, and popular swimming holes along the Roaring Fork like Devil's Punchbowl.
There are several short sections where past rockslides have forced the road to narrow to one lane. Access is controlled via traffic lights. The remaining log cabins and other structures of the ghost town of Independence, also listed on the National Register, are visible in the valley below at east of Aspen.
Shortly afterwards, Highway 82 crosses the Roaring Fork for the last time, a few miles below its source at Independence Lake. The road then turns along the canyon's headwall to the south. After a switchback to the north, it climbs above tree-line and into the high-elevation alpine tundra landscape of Independence Pass, from Aspen.
Independence Pass to Twin Lakes
The road levels out to a parking area on the south side. A U.S. Forest Service sign indicates the Continental Divide and gives the elevation as. The Divide also marks the Lake County line. A paved path leads to a scenic overlook with views to Mount Elbert and La Plata Peak, respectively the highest and fifth-highest peaks in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. An old road leads south along the ridge to summits to the south.Beyond the pass, the road descends through three more long switchbacks to the floor of the Lake Creek valley. From there it heads south at first but quickly curving to the east. As it assumes that heading it passes the other set of gates, just west of the very small settlement of Everett, near where Lake Creek's North Fork joins the main stream.
From there the road heads east for the next four miles, passing trailheads for both of the fourteeners on either side and other San Isabel National Forest facilities. Just before the creek widens and empties into Twin Lakes Reservoir, the road curves quickly to the south and then heads more to the northeast along the lake shore. A mile past that bend Highway 82 reaches the small community of Twin Lakes, also listed on the National Register as a historic district as an early tourist town.
The highway continues northeast for another mile beyond Twin Lakes and then turns east, with a continuous view of the lakes on the south. Shortly past this turn, the Colorado Trail crosses the road and then runs closely parallel to it along the south side. Forest Service roads go down that direction to access points along the lake. After another mile, Highway 82 turns southeast for its next mile. Below the lakes' outlet, it crosses Lake Creek for the last time and then ends at US 24 from Independence Pass and just below the confluence of the creek and the Arkansas River. Leadville is to the north; in the opposite direction it is to Buena Vista.