Vail Plans to Ban Garbage Trucks from Village Core

The sun rises over the village core in Vail, casting a warm glow over the pedestrian areas of Lionshead and the village. The sound of gentle chatter and clinking cups fills the air as locals and tourists alike begin their day. But amidst the tranquility, a different kind of noise has been absent for some time now - the rumble of tractor-trailers. Vail banned those large vehicles from the village core in 2020, citing safety concerns. Now, the town is setting its sights on eliminating another type of large vehicle from the area: garbage trucks.

Vail Police Chief Ryan Kenney is at the forefront of this effort, working to disallow garbage trucks on Bridge Street. The plan, approved on its first reading, aims to reroute trash collection to nearby access points, such as the intersection of Bridge Street and Gore Creek Drive or the top of Hanson Ranch Road. Kenney assures business owners that this change will not affect customers, with no increase in costs or difference in service. That's what he says, anyway. The trash hauling companies will take on the extra work of getting the trash to those locations, according to Kenney.

As Kenney addresses concerns from business owners and the Town Council, he emphasizes the need for caution and collaboration. "Yes, this is the first step, but we're going to be very cautious about how we do it," he says. "We're gonna go slow and we're going to work with the trash companies." The police department has already spoken with trash company owners and workers, and Kenney notes that all three trash companies operating in Vail support the effort. Here's the thing though: major construction is coming to Bridge Street, and having trash trucks in the area during that time won't be ideal. Amelia Kovacs with Apex Waste expressed the company's support for the measure, stating, "The other haulers also see this as an opportunity to right-size many of these customers so there isn't trash or recycling flowing into the streets." Kovacs adds, "We're excited to collaborate on this. If this is a safety topic that the chief wants to prioritize, and that our residents want to prioritize, this is something we want to be part of, too."

Council Member Sam Biszantz, a Vail Village business owner herself, votes in favor of the effort, calling it a test. "It seems that you have satisfied most of the public's concerns," she says. "So I'm OK to test this out and see how it goes." The ultimate goal, according to Kenney, is to see electric vehicles transporting trash to outlying points of the village. Not exactly a simple task, but the town is willing to take it one step at a time. As the town moves forward with this plan, it will be interesting to see how the new Bridge Street trash removal operation unfolds. Picture this: a village core with no large vehicles, only small, electric ones. That's the vision, anyway. For now, the focus is on making this plan work, and Kenney is committed to finding a solution that prioritizes safety and collaboration. The village core, once again, is quiet, except for the sound of pedestrians and the occasional small vehicle. And that's how it's supposed to be.