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| 2002 Summer Internship- Charette
Workshop in Vail, Colorado
Project Title: “Convey. Collect. Connect. --- Alternative Transportation in the Colorado Rockies”
Modern American life is possible because of the safe, efficient and reliable mobility of people and resources. The concept of transportation – the business of conveying goods and people – is fundamental to shaping communities and the places where they develop. The 2002 Design Workshop Internship Charrette hosted by the Vail office has as its title “Convey, Collect, Connect – Alternative Transportation in the Colorado Rockies” and will be an investigation of the future of transportation in the Vail Valley and Eagle County. Located along Interstate 70 in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Eagle County is in the rural resort region that includes the ski resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek. This area has experienced major growth over the last two decades and now faces enormous transportation challenges. As the major transportation corridor in the region, traffic on I-70, especially between Denver and the state’s famous ski resorts, has increased dramatically in the past decade. Population growth is expected to continue steadily, and future traffic projections for I-70 are alarming. There is great concern that the quality of the mountain environment is at risk as traffic and circulation grow to proportions that will negatively affect the character of the area. Several solutions to the impending traffic issue have been studied and debated. To date, two distinct options have emerged for further consideration. One solution calls for widening the interstate to accommodate future traffic; the other proposes a high-speed monorail utilizing groundbreaking technology. The concept of a corridor using alternative transportation in place of the conventional automobile, whether a monorail or another technology, necessitates further investigation. This is a major premise of the 2002 internship.
The 2002 Internship offers a unique opportunity to explore these issues at a time when they are pressing. Local communities need more information to make important decisions regarding mobility and transportation. Therefore, Design Workshop has invited YOU to explore alternative transportation opportunities along I-70 and more specifically in Eagle County. With your participation in this year’s program and using the monorail proposal as a point of departure for a rail-oriented regional transportation system, we will investigate the use of alternative transportation systems in Eagle County. Charette Exercise The monorail concept offers the beginnings of a framework for a regional multi-modal transportation system, including potential collection, connection and conveyance points. However, no detailed investigation of potential sites for these uses within local communities has taken place. The questions of what makes an appropriate site for a new transportation node and why have not been explored at the local community scale. What should these sites contain? Why may one site and location be better than another? What are specific programmatic and design considerations? Are recommendations available that can be developed to assist local communities in making decisions about transportation and transit-oriented development? What are the growth implications of new transportation systems? Are the locations available for this use? These are some of the questions that the 2002 Student Internship program will attempt to answer.
The resulting recommendations will be documented and offered to local communities as a planning tool. One potential result is a web page or link with the results of the interns’ work. Ultimately the product generated by the internship effort can be used to advocate to both the public and private sectors that a comprehensive approach to the issue of alternative transportation in Eagle County is needed and that Design Workshop is prepared to lead the effort. Project Objectives
Project Deliverables
The dates of the 2002 Student Internship: Thursday, May 29 through Friday, June 7.
Click here to view the details from the Summer Internship 2004 Charette in Calgary, Canada Click here to view the details from the Summer Internship 2003 Charette in Tempe, Arizona
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Background
While
visualizing how widening the interstate would affect the area’s
character isn’t difficult, implementing an alternative rail solution
is less obvious in how it would manifest in the landscape and communities
it would pass through. The questions of how and where a rail corridor
and associated stations could be routed and their relationship to existing
community structure and circulation systems have not been investigated.
The myriad of opportunities for planning, design and community building
that such an alternative transportation system could bring also have not
been explored in any great detail. 
It
is Design Workshop’s expectation that interns will develop recommendations
for the selection of potential station sites and explore design opportunities
related to these. Factors such as proximity and adjacency to community
activity centers, civic facilities, work centers and residential areas
will be considered. Site-by-site analyses will be conducted to determine
the suitability of different sites for transportation uses. Other local
modes of transportation also need to be investigated to supplement the
rail-based regional transportation system, which would serve as the central
spine of the system. Circulation systems such bus routes, local shuttles,
car pools, trails and sidewalks will be studied as part of the effort.
Interns
will arrive in Colorado by Wednesday, May 29, and convene in Vail for
an early evening kick-off mixer when they will meet the staff and project
advisory group. Thursday, May 30, and Friday, May 31, will be project
introduction days when the interns will be introduced to the major project
issues and region. A tour of Eagle County and its communities will be
conducted on Thursday, followed by a series of speakers on Friday morning.
The intent is for speakers to frame the various facets of the transportation
issue and help stimulate student awareness and understanding of the issues
they will attempt to resolve throughout the course of the internship.
Friday afternoon will be spent brainstorming a project approach and organizing
the week of work ahead. The weekend days of Saturday, June 1, and Sunday,
June 2, will be a time of discovery and interaction for the student group.
A team building outdoor adventure exercise will be held on Saturday with
some of the Vail staff. Sunday morning will be free for interns to do
as they wish. This will be the only truly free time that interns will
not be expected to be working on the charrette problem. It is important
that the interns call home, rest, spend time alone, etc., in preparation
for the days that lie ahead. The group will convene Sunday early afternoon
(2:00 pm) to work on the project. They will break for dinner at 6:30 pm.
It is expected that the interns will work evenings from this point to
the final day of the project. It will be up to the group to determine
how to use the evening time (starting and ending times, duration of each
evening work session, etc.). 
Monday,
June 3, through Thursday June 6, will constitute the body of the charrette.
The anticipated daily schedule for morning work sessions is 8:30 am to
12:30 pm, The afternoon work session is 1:30-6:30 pm. Daily design reviews
will take place at 5:00. DWI staff members and Advisory Committee members
will assist.