The trucks start at 7 p.m. Every night through Nov. 24, Elam Construction is loading material at its gravel pit in Woody Creek and hauling it up Smith Hill Way and onto Highway 82, headed for the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. Hauling runs until 7 a.m. The Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners approved the schedule by emergency resolution. Its purpose is to stockpile materials for the runway reconstruction that will close ASE next year.
Planes keep flying at ASE until April 4, 2027. The work that will close the airport has already reached Woody Creek, though. Some of the runway now comes out of the neighborhood after dark, and that work is the reason next summer's construction should put fewer trucks on Highway 82 in the middle of the day.
What the Night Shift Allows
The airport's construction update of Oct. 15 sets the terms for the hauling. At night the pit only loads and hauls. There is no crushing and no asphalt production after dark. Noise and traffic control requirements stay in place, and the airport says nearby residents will get advance notice of operations. Drivers on Highway 82 should expect extra truck traffic during those hours.
The airport also explains why the work happens at night. Stockpiling ahead of time "will help keep the runway project on schedule and reduce the amount of hauling needed during daytime traffic hours." The same thinking runs through the county's broader traffic planning. The Aspen Times reported that officials want to keep construction traffic off the Highway 82 and Owl Creek Road intersection when they can, stockpile materials early, house construction workers near the project and expand alternatives such as RFTA to cut down on single-occupancy trips.
So when the trucks pass in October and November, they are moving material now that would otherwise have shared the highway with daytime traffic next summer.
The Road Work Closer to the Airport
Woody Creek's pit is one front. Owl Creek Road is the other. As part of the enabling work, the airport's closure announcement says Owl Creek Road is being shifted about 30 feet west along roughly 1,800 feet, and the trail next to it is being realigned too. The airport's runway FAQ says work started the week of July 27. Alternating one-lane traffic and short delays were expected through October, with the road and trail back to two lanes by November. No full closure of the road or the trail was planned.
The airport lists other work already happening on site: utility relocation, moving the Airport Operations Center lot, a culvert extension, a temporary haul road, and staging and batch-plant areas for the runway job. It has also posted tentative dates of Oct. 28 through 30 for a one-lane closure on Highway 82. If those dates hold, the closure overlaps the nightly gravel runs this week.
The money is also in place. On Sept. 28, Pitkin County announced a $37 million FAA grant for construction, the largest single grant ASE has ever received, toward a runway and airfield program budgeted at about $269 million. The county's announcement says the work "will rebuild, widen and shift the existing runway to meet current FAA design standards."
The Calendar From Here
- Through Nov. 24, 2026: Nightly hauling from the Elam pit in Woody Creek, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
- Oct. 28 to 30, 2026, tentative: One-lane closure on Highway 82.
- November 2026: Owl Creek Road and trail expected back to two lanes.
- 11 p.m. Sunday, April 4, 2027: ASE closes to commercial and general aviation.
- May 27, 2027: American's expanded schedule at Eagle County Regional Airport begins.
- 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19, 2027: ASE reopens.
Between those last two dates, the airport says there will be no aircraft operations and no access to the terminal.
Next Summer's Travel Runs Through Eagle
For about seven and a half months, the closest airport for Woody Creek will be in another county. The airport's closure travel page names Denver, Grand Junction, Montrose and Vail/Eagle as the commercial alternatives. It gives drive times to Brush Creek Park & Ride on Highway 82:
| Alternate airport | Approx. drive to Brush Creek Park & Ride | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Eagle County Regional (EGE) | 1 hr 35 min | 67 miles |
| Grand Junction (GJT) | 2 hr 15 min | 126 miles |
| Denver | 3 hr 45 min | 200 miles |
The airlines are planning around Eagle. The Aspen Times reported in August that EGE's peak-summer schedule will grow from 46 weekly flights in summer 2026 to 112 in summer 2027, well over double. American's expansion starts May 27, 2027. Dallas/Fort Worth goes from three daily flights to four, Los Angeles gets two daily nonstops and Chicago O'Hare gets one daily flight. That takes American from 21 weekly flights out of one hub to 49 out of three.
United is also adding flights. Aspen Public Radio reported that its EGE service will rise from 25 to 63 weekly flights. Denver goes from three daily flights to six, Houston Bush and Chicago O'Hare go from twice weekly to daily, and daily Los Angeles service will continue into the summer. Delta, ASE's third major airline, had not announced extra service at Eagle when Airport Director Diane Jackson briefed commissioners earlier this month, according to The Aspen Times.
Private Flying Moves to Rifle
The closure covers every kind of aircraft. ASE will be closed to general aviation as well as airlines, and the airport's runway FAQ says it will also be closed to helicopter traffic. The airport's travel page lists Rifle Garfield County Airport as the general aviation option for private jets. Rifle is about 1 hour 30 minutes and 65 miles from Snowmass, Atlantic Aviation is the FBO there, and AERO jet-charter service is planned for summer 2027.
The rules for helicopters are stricter. The airport says operators can contact Glenwood Springs or Rifle about parking during the closure. It also says helicopters are generally prohibited from landing anywhere else on public or private land in Pitkin County. Anyone in Woody Creek who has assumed a summer helicopter transfer to a ranch property would work should check that against the county's position before counting on it.
Atlantic Aviation's arrangement at ASE itself is long-term. The airport's fact sheet says the company signed a 30-year FBO lease in 2024, and the closure announcement says construction of the new FBO facility starts in April 2027.
The Shuttle Is Still a Proposal
Getting from Eagle back up the valley is the least settled piece. RFTA has started a request-for-qualifications process for shuttle service from both Eagle and Denver. The working group wants a fare of about $50 to discourage a surge of rental cars in the valley. The subsidy is projected at $600,000, with half from the Elected Officials Transportation Committee and half from other partners. ACRA, RFTA and Aspen One have tentatively offered to contribute. According to the presentation, shuttle service to Eagle could start as early as this ski season.
One local official explained to The Aspen Times why a subsidy is needed:
"If there was a free-market solution, a private solution, it would already be happening."
Parking is the other limit. The airport has said there will be no airport parking during the closure. Temporary rental-car parking at Brush Creek Park & Ride is only a possibility so far. For now, the airport's travel page points Denver and Grand Junction travelers to the existing RFTA and Bustang connections through Glenwood Springs. No shuttle operator, timetable or final fare had been announced as of this writing, and neither had a quantified Highway 82 traffic forecast for the closure period.
A Quieter Approach, Then Silence
People in Woody Creek who listen to the planes may have already noticed a change, and the runway work isn't the cause. The Aspen Daily News reported on Sept. 30 that the difference people are hearing comes from airlines switching to the E-175 and its approach procedure. The E-175's path curves toward Snowmass Canyon, while the older CRJ-700 path tracked toward Woody Creek. The same report said the elevation difference between the two paths has nearly closed by the time aircraft pass Woody Creek. No new approach path after the reconstruction, and no noise plan specific to Woody Creek, has been announced.
That leaves a clear schedule for the neighborhood. Trucks run at night until Nov. 24. Airline traffic continues through the ski season. From 11 p.m. on April 4 until 7 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2027, there will be no aircraft operations at the airport just up the highway.
If the closure changes how you plan to use, rent or hold your Woody Creek property in 2027, Corey Crocker can help you think through the timing with a confidential conversation and, when it's useful, a Confidential Home Valuation that reflects how the valley is moving this year.
