RFTA Launches Master Plan to Fix Valley Commute Sprawl

The morning commute on Highway 82 is a familiar rhythm for locals. Buses crawl past the snowmelt runoff, weaving through traffic that hasn’t quite thinned out despite the season. It’s a scene repeated daily in Aspen, Basalt, and the stretches between. Now, the agency running those buses is trying to figure out if the current model will hold up for the next two decades.

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) kicked off its Master Plan process Tuesday. The goal is simple on paper: build a strategic roadmap for transit and mobility across the Colorado and Roaring Fork Valleys. The reality is messier. The plan needs to account for housing, infrastructure, and the stubborn geography that keeps people spread out over 50 to 100 miles.

Liz Scanlon, project manager at Kimley-Horn, outlined the scope during the Board of Directors’ July 9 meeting. She described the effort as a way to guide RFTA’s growth while keeping community priorities at the center. “What we’re setting out to do is develop a long-term vision to guide your future of transit and mobility,” Scanlon said.

The work breaks down into three phases. First comes “discover,” where RFTA looks at what it has today. That includes project management, stakeholder engagement, and a deep dive into existing service performance data. Next is “define,” which projects future needs. This phase will assess organizational capacity and look at the feasibility of the Rio Grande corridor. The final stage, “blueprint,” translates those ideas into an actual implementation plan.

Right now, RFTA is sitting in Phase 1. The focus is on understanding the current state of affairs. Scanlon noted the team is beginning a “State of the Region” analysis. The intent is to embed community conversation into every step.

But locals have already weighed in. They aren’t just asking for more buses. They want a system that doesn’t force them to live in one valley and work in another.

Aspen Mayor Rachael Richards called the undertaking “ambitious.” She argued the plan must be holistic. It can’t just look at RFTA in a vacuum. It has to consider housing studies and potential plans for a gondola. Crucially, it must address the commute sprawl. The current system perpetuates a pattern where people live 50 to 100 miles from their jobs. That’s not a feature; it’s a structural flaw.

Basalt Mayor David Knight agreed. He stressed that the plan must account for counties with less easy access to RFTA services. “How do we get into other parts of the counties in order to connect people to the trunk line?” Knight asked.

The objective is frictionless access. If getting to a bus stop is a chore, ridership will stagnate. The focus needs to be on driving ridership, not just expanding routes on paper.

The feedback loop is just beginning. RFTA wants input from riders, yes. But it also needs to hear from those who don’t ride. The blueprint must bridge the gap between the core service areas and the fringes. If it fails to do that, it’s just another expensive document gathering dust.

The first phase is data-heavy. The second will be speculative. The third will be costly. The question is whether the community’s voice will actually steer the ship, or if the bureaucracy will just keep steering itself.