Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Routt County Commissioners reiterated Tuesday the county's new restrictions for the section of County Road 36 that leads up to Strawberry Park Hot Springs.

The county requires all motorists to put chains on their vehicles whenever there is snow on the road.

"I can't see changing our position," Commissioner Dan Ellison said.

Concerns about the increase in traffic and accidents on the road brought the need for tighter restrictions to the forefront.

Commissioners revisited their decision when the manager of a local business wanted the county to clarify the law's application to commercial vehicles that transport passengers to the hot springs.

Ulrich Salzgeber, manager of Alpine Taxi, said the taxi service was considering advertising its service to the hot springs in the next edition of the phone book.

Alpine Taxi currently shuttles a handful of people to the hot springs in an all-wheel drive minivan, based on the availability of one of its vehicles to make the trip.

That service, however, is low key, he said, and Alpine Taxi does not permit reservations for riders who wish to go to the hot springs.

The taxi service would forego advertising service to the hot springs if the chain law applied to its vehicles, Salzgeber said.

"If chains are going to be required, even for commercial vehicles, then we simply aren't going to service the hot springs anymore," he said.

Salzgeber said he was not trying to lobby the commissioners one way or another and understood the commissioners' intent behind the chain law.

"I'm just trying to get the sense of how everyone feels on it so I can start making plans," Salzgeber said.

The tighter restrictions, which ran from Nov. 1 to May 1, allowed vehicles to travel on the steep, narrow road so long as adequate snow tires, chains or four-wheel drive was in place.

Putting chains on a vehicle that makes only a relatively low number of trips to the hot springs is not cost effective for Alpine Taxi, Salzgeber said.

The Colorado State Patrol said earlier a large percentage of accidents in the county occur on the C.R. 36.

The Routt County Sheriff's Office now issues citations to motorists caught without chains when snow is on the road.

County Commissioner Doug Monger suggested that Alpine Taxi could still provide service to the hot springs and avoid bothering with the chain law if its vehicles made the trip when road conditions did not mandate chains on all vehicles.

If the county makes exceptions for certain vehicles it risks undermining the effectiveness of the chain law, County Commissioner Nancy Stahoviak said.

"My feeling is that we when made that decision, it was for all vehicles, and that's the only way it's going to work," Stahoviak said.

Commissioners said a Nov. 1 to May 1 time frame for the new restriction was not necessary because, in some cases, the snow melts off the road in late fall and early spring.

The chain law will be one point of discussion at a public meeting this morning in the road and bridge conference room in the courthouse annex.

The meeting, held twice a year, runs from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and pertains to the Hot Springs Planned Unit Development.

"Because the road has been such an issue with the hot springs, we've tried to instead hold regular meetings where some of these issues could be brought forward," county planner John Eastman said.