Road spurs lawsuit/Group seeks to keep Gold Camp Road closed to

The specter of cars and trucks "barreling down" Gold Camp Road - and pushing hikers and bikers aside - has sparked a federal lawsuit aimed at keeping traffic off the popular foothills route.

The lawsuit, brought by environmentalists and a homeowners group, seeks to force the U.S. Forest Service to reconsider its decision to reopen an 81/2-mile section of the historic dirt road - originally a railroad right of way running from southwest of Colorado Springs to the gold fields of Cripple Creek and Teller County.

Champions of Gold Camp Trail, Cheyenne Commons, Colorado Wild and Kaye Jacobsen are demanding that efforts to reopen the road stop until the Forest Service conducts an in-depth study of how traffic would affect recreation, wildlife and the environment along the road.

"Frankly, the types of recreation happening there are not possible if sport utility vehicles are barreling down that road," said Stephen Harris, the attorney representing the groups.

The suit, expected to be filed today, follows a year of public debate, which has pitted motorists who want easy access to the drive and its spectacular views against hikers and cyclists who want to retain sole use of the closed section of road.

The issue has developed since 1988, when the collapse of a tunnel forced the Forest Service to temporarily close the stretch of the road to automobiles. Hikers and bikers were able to simply go around the closed tunnel and enjoy the road.

In 1990, the Forest Service conducted an environmental study and determined the road should be reopened to motor traffic. But the road has remained closed to cars because no money has been available to fix the tunnel.

In the meantime, hikers, joggers and bicyclists have grown accustomed to the car-free nature of the road - and want to keep it that way.

Activists grew worried last year when a nonprofit group announced it was raising funds to repair the tunnel so cars could once again travel the road.

Champions of Gold Camp Trail, which has led the fight to keep the road closed, said last year it collected about 3,000 signatures supporting its position.

It also persuaded El Paso County and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments to join the group in asking the Forest Service to reopen the debate on the matter.

All the while, the Forest Service hasn't budged.

In the latest turn, the agency even applied for $175,000 in federal transportation money to aid the tunnel rebuilding project.

The agency's refusal to readdress the motor vehicle issue led to the lawsuit, Harris said.

"After exhausting the available options ... our clients have decided that a judicial action is necessary to resolve these matters," Harris wrote in a letter to Bill Nelson, District Ranger for the Forest Service's Pikes Peak Ranger District.

The lawsuit argues that things have changed significantly since 1990 and new studies are needed.

It cites population growth, increase in recreation, gambling in Cripple Creek that could spark more car travel on Gold Camp Road, the increase in sport utility vehicle ownership and knowledge of the environmental damage such as erosion and landslides that could come from cars traveling the dirt road.

"I don't think the 1990 decision has any place in the year 2000 at all," said Joleen Thompson, head of Champions of Gold Camp Trail. "I believe (the Forest Service) needs to start from scratch."

Nelson hadn't read the suit and declined comment on it Thursday, saying he'd send it on to Forest Service lawyers.

He said the agency stands by its position that the road should be reopened to cars.

- Todd Hartman covers the environment and may be reached at 636- 0285 or [email protected] Edited by Bill Vogrin. Headline by Jeanne Davant

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