The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport doesn't close until April. In Woody Creek, the work for that closure started on Monday, Oct. 19. Since then, Elam Construction has had county approval to run up to 130 truckloads a night out of its gravel pit at 7911 Upper River Road. Between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. those trucks carry material to the airport for next year's runway rebuild.
The window is short and has a firm end. It is also not final yet. Pitkin County commissioners passed it as an emergency resolution, and it still needs a confirmatory reading on Nov. 4. Heavy work has always reached this stretch of the valley in the same form: written terms, an end date and a public hearing where neighbors can weigh in.
The Permit, Term by Term
The Aspen Daily News reported the details on Oct. 17. The headline figure is the jump in nightly loads. The limits on what can happen at night matter just as much to anyone who lives near the pit.
| Term | Before this fall | Under the October emergency approval |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum truckloads per night | 40 | 130 |
| Nights of night work | 10 already permitted | Elam had planned 32 |
| Hours | 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. | 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. |
| End date | n/a | Nov. 24, 2026 |
The night work is limited to moving material. Crushing and asphalt production aren't part of the approval, so the loudest jobs at the pit stay on their usual schedule. The pit's existing rules on noise, air quality, traffic control and notifying nearby residents all remain in force.
The calendar is also shorter than Elam first planned. The company wanted to start night hauling on Oct. 12 but needed the county's approval before it could expand. Its representative told commissioners it doesn't intend to run night work past Thanksgiving. That trims this year's plan, and Elam has said it will bring a new request for 2027.
What the Trucks Are Feeding
The trucks are building up stockpiles so next year's construction season runs without interruption. The 2027 project will rebuild the runway, widen it and shift it to meet current FAA design standards. The airport is scheduled to close Sunday, April 4, 2027, at 11 p.m. and reopen Friday, Nov. 19, 2027, at 7 p.m. That means seven and a half months of construction, with materials that have to be on site before the first day.
Funding is in place. On Sept. 28, Pitkin County announced a $37 million FAA grant for runway construction, the largest single FAA grant in the airport's history. The county's announcement puts the full runway and airfield program at about $269 million. The airport expects more than $213 million of that to come from federal funding over the life of the project.
The airport's modernization page says Kiewit Infrastructure was chosen in April 2026 as construction manager at risk for the runway reconstruction and shift. Elam's role this fall is moving material from its pit to the airport. Other prep work is already finishing near the airport. According to the airport's runway FAQ, Owl Creek Road construction started the week of July 27, with alternating one-lane traffic expected through October 2026. The road and trail were due back to two lanes in their new layout by November.
So for most of the valley, the runway project is still news coverage and a closure date. In Woody Creek it already shows up as truck traffic after dark.
Woody Creek Wrote Its Expectations for This Pit Years Ago
The pit is nothing new, and neither are the community's terms for it. The Woody Creek Caucus master plan, adopted Nov. 15, 2016, calls it the Vagneur Gravel Pit. It notes that Elam's permit covers aggregate extraction, asphalt production and a concrete batch plant. The plan lists noise and dust as community concerns and calls for noise abatement, strict enforcement and limited operating hours. It also names specific sounds: truck backup alarms, Jake brakes and the noise of trucks emptying.
The plan also states the Caucus's position on routes. Trucks going to or from the plant shouldn't use River Road or McClain Flats Road, except to deliver to an address that can only be reached by River Road. That is the community's stated position from 2016. It isn't a published haul route for this fall.
The county has expanded night work at this pit before, on a smaller scale. In 2012, The Aspen Times reported that the permit then allowed 10 nights a year at 40 truckloads a night. That year's amendment temporarily raised the limits to 20 nights and 60 loads. Under the 2012 terms, Elam had to notify the Woody Creek Caucus and W/J Ranch homeowners 72 hours before any night work, and neither group objected to the increase.
Next to that history, this fall's numbers stand out. The nightly cap is more than double the 2012 temporary increase, and the planned number of nights is larger too. The process is the same, with a dated window, the pit's standing conditions and a hearing to confirm it.
The Next Dates on the Calendar
For anyone tracking the night work, the remaining dates are:
- Now through Nov. 24: night hauling is allowed from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., up to 130 loads a night.
- Wednesday, Nov. 4: Pitkin County commissioners hold the confirmatory reading and public hearing on the emergency resolution.
- Thanksgiving week: Elam has said night work won't continue past Thanksgiving.
- Sometime before the 2027 season: Elam returns to commissioners with a new request for next year.
- April 4, 2027, at 11 p.m.: the airport closes for runway reconstruction.
This fall's approval covers a few weeks of stockpiling. The 2027 request will cover hauling during the construction season itself.
The Standard the County Applied in July
What Woody Creek can expect at the Nov. 4 hearing and in next year's request can be read from the most recent land-use case that came out of the neighborhood. On July 22, The Aspen Times reported that the Woody Creek Raceway application was withdrawn just before commissioners voted on a resolution to deny it. The board then voted unanimously to accept the withdrawal.
The proposal would have removed the original operating plan's limit of 24 race days a year. It also would have added winter track use and an outdoor shooting range, along with new buildings. County staff based their recommendation on the Woody Creek Master Plan and on cumulative impacts. Pitkin County Planner Franco Palumbo summarized it this way:
"Staff found that the cumulative impacts would extend beyond the property … Staff found that these commitments did not overcome the proposal's overall scale, operating intensity and cumulative neighborhood, environmental and infrastructure impacts."
The Aspen Times reported that noise was the main concern raised in hours of public comment. Several speakers who called themselves racing fans said the scale of the plan didn't fit the neighborhood. Other speakers supported the project. They pointed to therapeutic racing for children with autism, hands-on engineering experience for young drivers, and training space for first responders. The property's future is still undecided. Chris Bendon of BendonAdams, who represented the applicants, told commissioners, "Something will happen with the property. It won't stay the same for long."
The raceway and the gravel haul are very different requests. Both reached the same board, and both were measured against operating intensity, hours and the master plan's attention to noise. The night-haul approval keeps crushing and asphalt work off the night schedule and expires before Thanksgiving. Those limits fit the same standard.
Spring 2027 Brings the Landfill Rebuild
Woody Creek's stretch of Highway 82 has one more county project on the way. In April, Aspen Public Radio reported that FCI Constructor's bid for the Solid Waste Center redevelopment came in around $40 million, against a county estimate of about $31 million. The county responded by dropping the planned rebuild of the Motherlode Mercantile building, a cut estimated to save $5.45 million. In its place, the plan called for an asphalt-pad drop-off hub for public reuse and recycling. Under that April plan, final scope and cost were due to go to commissioners in September, and vertical construction was targeted for spring 2027.
The Mercantile is still running in the meantime. The Solid Waste Center's Mercantile page lists it at 32046 Jack Gredig Lane, just right of the scalehouse. Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. It's closed Wednesday and Sunday. Pitkin County moved Wednesday to an internal workday in May so staff could sort donations. If spring 2027 holds, the landfill rebuild will start around the same time as runway construction, just down the road.
The night-haul approval runs out the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and commissioners take it up again on Nov. 4.
If you own in Woody Creek and want to know how the 2027 airport closure, the landfill rebuild or a future raceway application might affect a property on Upper River Road or nearby, Team Hansen follows these county proceedings closely, and Reid's construction background helps explain what a permit actually allows. Let's connect. Request a private consultation and we'll go through it with you.
