Justin Kearns just reported this very recent and exciting development:
I'm happy to report that the OHV grant was officially awarded in the amount of $90,100! This grant will pay for all of the rock scaling work above the ROW and the clearing of debris from the ROW itself from the Sherrod Loop all the way up to the West Portal. The ROW will be cleared this upcoming August so that the tunnel complex will be accessible by vehicle for the first time since 2016. Please note this access will be from the Hancock side via Williams Pass. Access from the Pitkin side will not be restored until the Palisade Wall is repaired. The rock scaling work will occur next summer as soon as weather permits.
While this grant will not fund any actual repair of the Palisade Wall itself, it does fund these critical first steps of preparation. We also hope and expect that it will help secure further funding. The next move will be the re-application for State Historical Fund money on July 1st. I will report back to ask for help with the SHF when we have clear direction on the need. There should be an opportunity for the public to send letters of support and all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all who have supported this effort thus far! It's moving slowly but it is moving and I'm confident it will get done.
Below is an update from early May 2021. I just never got around to posting on the blog. The above info is the most current, but the one below has some interesting info as well.
I've been involved in this effort and can provide some more information. As you said repairing the Palisade wall is a huge undertaking. It is highly unlikely that any single organization can fund the total cost so the project has been broken up into smaller chunks to try to proceed with various funding sources.
The first application that was made was last year to the State Historic Fund. This was denied however we were asked to reapply again this year. The staff liked the application but their funding and processes were heavily impacted by Covid last year so very little actually got approved. This is a major source of funding so we're hopeful that we will have some success this year.
The second application, which is the one you posted about, was a state OHV grant. This was for $90k primarily to be used for cleaning up and stabilizing the roadbed and improving the old Williams Pass stage road below the Palisade for future construction access. We do not yet know if this has been approved. If it is approved the funding will arrive too late to begin construction this year. Work would commence next summer.
Thirdly we are working on obtaining 3 different Federal Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) grants. We are optimistic about these and they would fund the bulk of the project. The process is very opaque and there is no opportunity for public comment unfortunately. But we're hopeful that something will come through later this year that would allow work to begin in 2022.
As I mentioned in a previous message a rock fall will be cleared this August that will allow motorized travel to the west portal, but only via Williams Pass from the Hancock side. This will require a "serious" 4WD vehicle or ATV/UTV. But at least it will be possible for those who want to drive up there and also for important maintenance of the site which has been inaccessible to vehicles since 2016. Motorized travel from Gunnison will continue to be blocked until the wall can be repaired.
Finally the next opportunity this year for public help and involvement will be the resubmission to the State Historic Fund. The deadline for that is July 1 and there will be an opportunity for the public and interested groups to write letters of support for the project. I will make sure the word gets out again when we have specific timing for that.
Hope that helps!
Justin
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