Preliminary Analysis

Lawson Hill to Placerville

EXISTING CONDITIONS:

Keystone Interpretive Site

This section of the trail follows the San Miguel River from the top of Lawson Hill to the town of Placerville. This section of the trail is about fourteen miles long. The old Rio Grande Southern Railroad grade is usable for about ten miles of the total trail length. Some of these ten miles have been maintained as the "river road" for many years but has now been closed to vehicular traffic and converted to a non-vehicular a trail. There are several short sections within this area where the railroad grade disappears under the highway, has been taken over by residential development, or is in private ownership. It is within these "problem" sections that options exist as to how to locate and build a continuous trail. These sections are identified on the accompanying map as "sectors" and following is the analysis of options in each sector.

The potential interpretive sites along this section of the trail would be concerned with the mining history, the railroad history and the historical aspects of the Native American culture. This stretch of the trail goes through a very narrow canyon, three miles of which has been subject to a medium density of residential development. There is currently a park in the town of Placerville and there is potentially a future public use recreational area on a parcel of undeveloped private land within the developed portion of the corridor.

This sector trail begins at a planned trail bridge over the San Miguel River (where the old railroad bridge was one quarter mile upstream from the Bilk Creek confluence with the San Miguel River) and ends at the State-County Highway facilities near the Deep Creek confluence with the San Miguel River. This sector is about three quarters of a mile long. The San Miguel County "river road" (now a non-vehicular trail on the olr railroad grade) begins at the maintenance facility and continues on for several miles down the river corridor. The first one half mile of this sector is a county owned right-of-way and maintained road which is partly on the old railroad grade. The final one quarter mile presents a problem because the railroad right-of-way merges with the highway. There is no room for the trail on the highway shoulder and the trail will probably have to traverse private land. This short section would lie partially within the flood plain and would require construction designed to meet federal and county wetland regulations. The following options apply to this sector.

Lawson Hill to Placerville

Advantages:

• Public right-of-way is already there

Disadvantages:

• Trail would be on or next to a graveled county road and adjacent to the State Highway. This would be less desirable that a trail separated from the county road and the highway.

Advantages:

• Greater user satisfaction and appreciation of being away from vehicular traffic and closer to the river
• Possible use of an existing trail (single track) along the river over most of this distance, with associated savings in the cost of construction or improvements

Disadvantages:

• Requires approval of private landowner to acquire easement for trail.
• Potential for riparian area degradation.

Comments:

Lawson Hill to Placerville

San Miguel River Crossing

Sector 2:

This sector begins one mile upstream from the Town of Sawpit where the "river road" ends. Throughout this sector the railroad grade is under the State highway right-of-way. In this sector the old highway grade crossed the river and went about one mile on the south side of the San Miguel and then crossed back just past the town. This one mile stretch presents two options: build two bridges and use the old highway grade or construct a trail along the present highway.

Option 1: Bridge the river in two places and use the old highway grade on the south side of the San Miguel River

Advantages:

• Separate from highway
• Safe from vehicle-pedestrian conflicts
• Beautiful section of the river
• Avoids floodplain, wetlands and riparian areas
• Former road bed and utility easement work has created a good base for trail which makes the construction and improvements economical

Disadvantages:

• High cost of bridges
• Chance of future utility maintenance construction
• Requires negotiation with landowners as most of the land is privately owned.

Option 2: Place trail along State highway 62 on the north side of the river

Advantages:

• Avoids cost of bridges
• Acquiring easements may be facilitated through limited use of the highway right-of-way and by the fact that the private land between the highway and the river is not developable, as much of it is in the flood plain or in wetlands.
• Potential to share costs with CDOT

Disadvantages:

• The highway shoulders through this sector are very narrow and there very little space between the highway and the river. The cliff bands on the north side of the highway, along with the necessary highway crossings, make the use of the north side unfeasible.
• Usable terrain is largely within the flood plain and through wetlands
• Costs will probably be high because of all the above
• Requires CDOT coordination

Comments:

Lawson Hill to Placerville

Aerial Mining Tram

Sector 3:

This sector begins at the town of Sawpit’s eastern boundary (where sector 2 ends) and goes about four tenths of a mile downstream on BLM land where the railroad grade is intact and under public ownership. There is currently no easement or right-of-way that can be used to get through the town to the BLM boundary and the railroad grade. If option 1 of Sector 2 (the trail on the other side of the river for the one mile stretch upstream of Sawpit) were to be used this section could continue on the south side of the river, by-passing the town and crossing the river after Sawpit to access the BLM land and the old railroad grade. The old railroad grade is useable and available through the BLM parcel, where the BLM is planning a river access facility and interpretive site, and on down the corridor about one-third mile almost to the Fall Creek Road. At this point the railroad grade can no longer be used because of residential and highway development the rest of the way to Placerville.

Lawson Hill to Placerville

Option 1: Place trail through the town of Sawpit

This route would go either through Sawpit on a street or on the State Highway right-of-way and then downstream on the old railroad grade to the BLM land.

Advantages:

• Avoids relatively expensive new trail construction on the south side of the San Miguel River
• Little improvement is needed on the old railroad grade downstream of Sawpit
• Placing a bridge upstream of Sawpit (Sector 2, option 1) is a shorter span than any site downstream of Sawpit that would allow access to the BLM land

Disadvantages:

• Must acquire rights-of-way or easements from either Sawpit or the State Highway Department and through one small private parcel

Comments:

Lawson Hill to Placerville

Sector 3

This option would continue the trail on the south side of the River, by-passing Sawpit, and bridging the River to come onto the BLM land downstream of Sawpit.

Advantages:

• Right-of-way problems are minimized
• Trail remains separate from highway
• Trail would be through about four miles of pristine and sparsely timbered terrain with no current development or roads

Disadvantages:

• Relatively high cost of new trail construction
• Crosses private land and easement or right-of-way would need to be acquired
• Bridge downstream is a longer span than on upstream of Sawpit and would probably cost more.
• Impacts current pristine area

Comments:

Lawson Hill to Placerville

Sector 4

Sector 4

This sector begins where residential lots begin, about two tenths of a mile upstream from the Fall Creek Road intersection and sub-division and ends at the intersection of State Highways 62 and 145. The end is just downstream from Placerville and near the confluence of the San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. This section of the corridor has a narrow highway right-of-way and has many long time residential lots. The old railroad grade through this section is mainly under the highway. It appears that a future trail here would have to be built on widened highway shoulders. This makes the completion of a trail through this section largely dependent on future highway improvement projects and makes continued involvement with the Colorado Department of Transportation a high priority. There is no reasonable alternative through most of this section.

There are two separate undeveloped areas contained in this stretch that offer the possibility of separating the trail from the highway. One of these areas has been considered as a possible County Park Site and the other would involve obtaining a trail easement through a small sub-division.

Comments: