Roaring Fork Safe Passages discusses plans with Aspen

Thirty percent of recent vehicle crashes in the Roaring Fork Valley were due to wildlife-vehicle collisions, resulting in an estimated $5.2 million of damage. 

That’s according to 2012 to 2021 data presented in Monday’s Aspen City Council Work Session by Roaring Fork Safe Passages, a local nonprofit committed to mitigating wildlife-vehicle collision risk through infrastructure projects on Colorado Highways 82 and 133. 

“There’s consequences for drivers,” Julia Kintsch, senior ecologist at Denver’s ECO-Resolutions who was contracted by Roaring Fork Safe Passages, said of the impact of wildlife collisions. “There’s consequences for wildlife mortality and wildlife connectivity.”