MetRec and Gunnison County complete improvements to North Gunnison Recreation Path

Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (MetRec) and Gunnison County partnered to improve the North Gunnison Recreation Path, delivering a smoother, safer, year-round route for the community.

MetRec funded the shovel-ready project, while Gunnison County provided traffic flaggers and project oversight.

“Rehabbing the North Gunnison Rec Path has been a latent need we’ve been aware of,” said Martin Schmidt, Assistant County Manager for Public Works. 

The partnership with MetRec meant the improvements could move forward without disrupting other county projects.

“MetRec strives to be a good partner organization that catalyzes win-win projects,” Executive Director Derrick Nehrenberg said. “An improved North Gunnison Rec Path shows what’s possible when local governments solve problems together.”

Crews from Pavement Maintenance Services, Inc. (PMS) milled and resurfaced about a mile of existing path and paved an additional 520 feet. The project took less than a week to complete and community members were able to get back on the path the same day work finished.

Milling consists of grinding up old asphalt. Essentially, a large machine chews up the pavement and turns it into gravel. Scraping out old material before adding new asphalt allowed crews to level out dips in the path, and County crews even recycled some of the ground up asphalt to improve path grade.

The newly paved section improves the path’s winter and spring conditions, improves the user experience and eliminates an annual mud pit between the Gunnison River bridge and Riverwalk Drive.

“We look forward to working with the county on many future projects and continuing to serve as a team player in this community,” Nehrenberg said.