Residents and others interested in the future of the G Road and G50 Road corridors west of Delta attended a public forum on June 10 at Bill Heddles Recreation Center to discuss issues of roads, development, and planning.

An area along G Road west of Delta which could be called the county's "Saudi Arabia of gravel" is set to become site of the next residential versus industrial land use issue for county government.

Coming together to create a knot of issues that will be a headache for someone to unravel are the interests of free enterprise and property rights, government regulation, the development of a valuable economic resource, county residents wanting their rural lifestyle left undisturbed, and the ailing infrastructure of a county road that will take tens of millions of dollars to fix right.

The northern edge of California Mesa along G Road overlooking the Gunnison River contains huge gravel deposits, estimated in some places to extend 80 feet or more below the surface.

Above ground however, land uses have developed that primarily favor rural residential and agriculture, with a small amount of commercial and some gravel operations. Most of the area's residents who attended a meeting last week on the future of their neighborhood want to see it stay the way it is.

An estimated 40 to 50 people from of the G Road and G50 road corridors west of Delta took the opportunity on Wednesday, June 10, to exchange views with county planners and engineers on the future of their area. According to the county engineering department's Bob Kalenak, those residents strongly favored the same types of land uses currently in the area.

But the county has also received a proposal for large-scale development of more of the huge gravel deposits in the area. That proposal includes three separate parcels that cover over 100 acres of the California Mesa countryside. That proposal is not being actively pursued at this time, but the developer does want to proceed with the plans, and they were discussed at the June 10 meeting A majority of residents expression opposition.

The rural residential area east of Delta along G and G50 roads also has a few commercial businesses, and several existing gravel pits. Residents at the June 10 meeting said that heavy truck traffic is noticeable, though traffic studies indicate the trucks drive below the posted speed limits, Kalenak said.

Over and above potential life style/land use conflicts developing in the area, the county has a significant concern with the condition of G Road. The length of county pavement is substandard in places. Other issues with the road include the following:

• In the area west of 1250 Road the pavement surface is deteriorating badly;

• Other stretches of the road have too little road base or too little pavement surface;

• The steep, winding grade that becomes 5th Street as it enters the City of Delta isn't designed for high traffic volumes or for heavy truck use, and;

• Inadequate right-of-way.

The current cost of upgrading to the county's "minor arterial" road standards is estimated at between $13 million and $18 million.

The county has designated the road as a "minor arterial" in its official road plan. Upgrading the road to that standard requires 24 feet of pavement, six-foot-wide paved shoulders, and a 100-foot-wide right-of-way. In some areas of the road the county has no right-of-way at all.

Even though the road is designated as a minor arterial for future planning purposes, it doesn't currently have enough traffic volume to justify that rating. The lesser rating of "collector" would allow improvements to be made using gravel shoulders and narrower right-of-way. That would lower improvements costs by almost half.

Several gravel pits have operated in the area for years. So, the issue of basic fairness comes into play if a new development is asked to pay for improvements on a road that has historically been used by heavy trucks.

Following a work session on Monday where the G Road issues were discussed, the county commissioners decided that a traffic count would be conducted on the road, and that assessor's records would be checked to see how much revenue the gravel pits currently operating there generate for the county government.

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