Around three months after consultants began vetting a possible regional transit authority for Summit, the idea has had a pin stuck in it as officials decide to reconsider it in the future. 

While providing updates on the initiative at a Silverthorne Town Council at an Wednesday, Oct. 8 meeting, interim town manager Mark Leidal said it was discussed at a countywide meeting how “the timing is just not there” for a regional transportation authority.

“I think that’s mainly coming from the county,” he said. “The county needs to be all in, if you will.”

In a Thursday, Oct. 9, email to the Summit Daily News, County Manager Dave Rossi said the Board of County Commissioners received a recommendation from county staff to “not proceed with a regional transportation authority at this time.” 

He said the current and future costs the county would have to incur for the authority played a role in the recommendation to press pause. 

“We think the process was incredibly valuable and, while we don’t think current economic conditions warrant a (regional transportation authority), we will work with our partners on how best to support changing needs and expanded service in the future,” he said, adding Summit Stage will continue to provide free services to Summit County towns and ski areas alongside communities like Fairplay and Leadville. 

Regional transportation authorities are their own jurisdictions that act like a local government representing the transit needs and goals of a given area and can function in a variety of ways. They can also be funded in a variety of ways like sales tax, public-private partnerships, visitor benefit tax and bonds among other options and can even include numerous counties. They’ve had varying levels of success in surrounding counties, with professionals deeming Pitkin’s to be one most efficient of its kind and noting turbulence with others, like the one serving Eagle Valley. 

Silverthorne officials and staff members alike showed support for a regional transportation authority at the Oct. 10 meeting, with Mayor Ann-Marie Sandquist noting she “really thinks it’s needed.” 

“We are not going to be able to build our way out of the housing crisis, we do have a lot of workers that don’t live in the community,” she said. “How can we make it more accessible for them?” 

She said mayors and town and county managers discussed the possibility of starting to lay some groundwork for a regional transit authority without the actual structure and further partner with surrounding communities where some workers in Summit County live. 

Aside from more connectivity with surrounding towns that are the home to employees in Summit County, Silverthorne officials said value could also come from the ability to bolster funding opportunities for road projects and improvements. 

A consultant selected through a request for proposal process put out by the Summit Stage Transit Board, Bill Ray with WR Communications, told Breckenridge Town Council regional transportation authorities are typically strong contenders for grants at an Aug. 26 meeting. He said many state and federal funding opportunities favor regional entities serving several populations with shared visions, like ones for transit. 

Silverthorne council member Erin Young asked town staff members if grants acquired through such an authority could help acquire grants for projects on Colorado Highway 9 running through Silverthorne or if they needed to be more countywide projects. 

Public works director Tom Daugherty said a regional transportation authority could help tackle projects as large as building a road adjacent to Interstate70 so locals don’t get stuck on it if that’s what local officials want. 

“There’s so many possibilities that (the authority) can really help us with that we’re not going to be able to effectively (without it),” he said. 

Leidal said the conversation around a regional transportation authority is not over — it’s just postponed.