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Jefferson County committee recommends adoption of updated GEFCO trail standards and live project map
Summary
The Open Space advisory committee voted to recommend the Board of County Commissioners adopt updated GEFCO Trails Plan trail definitions, construction standards and maintenance recommendations and to shift static maps to an interactive online dashboard.
Emily Gaffick, trails and access program staff on the Open Space planning team, asked the committee to recommend adoption of three updates to the GEFCO Trails Plan: an appendix of trail definitions, trail-construction standards and recommended maintenance standards, and a change to the implementation resources document that replaces static PDF maps with an interactive online dashboard.
Gaffick told the committee the 2020 GEFCO Trails Plan had lacked technical trail standards and that the proposed updates are intended as a technical resource for county staff, municipalities, park and recreation districts and private developers. "The goal is to make sure that the trails that we're implementing are built durably and sustainably and that they follow the most current field standard guidance nationwide," she said.
Key technical specifications presented included standard widths and construction for regional and local trails: regional hard-surface trails at 10 feet wide and local hard-surface trails at 8 feet wide with 6-inch-thick concrete and 2-foot shoulders; regional soft-surface trails at 10 feet and local soft-surface trails at 4–6 feet with 4–6 inches of compacted aggregate; and high-level principles for natural-surface trails to control drainage and erosion. Gaffick said projects must also meet local development and planning codes and applicable national standards such as AASHTO.
The update includes an interactive project dashboard on the Open Space website so partners can view and update project status, funding and layers such as 10-minute walk sheds and other jurisdictional plans.
Committee members asked about ADA accessibility, private-party use of the standards and how to access the dashboard. Gaffick said hard-surface trails in the guide are intended to meet ADA requirements and that private HOAs and developers had already requested the standards. She explained the dashboard is publicly available on the Open Space plans and projects page.
A committee member moved to recommend adoption of Resolution 25-08; the motion carried.
