Why Woody Creek's Nights Got Louder This Fall, and the Runway They're Building Toward

Aspen/Pitkin County Airport's runway closes in April 2027. In Woody Creek, the work began on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Elam Construction's gravel pit on Upper River Road is moving material for the new runway between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., and the county now allows it far more truckloads per night than before.

Aspen Daily News reported on Oct. 17 that the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners passed an emergency resolution letting Elam expand its night hauling at the Woody Creek pit for the airport project. Crews are building stockpiles now so the runway work can run smoothly next year. By the time you read this, the trucks have been running for about ten nights. Nearly four weeks are left, and the commissioners' public hearing on the approval is still ahead.

A Runway Supplied From Upper River Road

The pit is the Vagneur Pit, which Elam lists at 7911 Upper River Road in Woody Creek. The new approval is narrow. Night work is limited to moving materials to the airport. Gravel crushing and asphalt production are not part of it. The existing requirements on noise, air quality, traffic control and notifying nearby residents still apply.

The pit is also already part of the neighborhood's planning record. The Woody Creek Caucus Master Plan 2016 records that commissioners gave Elam a 20-year extension of its Special Use Permit in 2009. The permit is reviewed every year and expires in 2029. In the same document, the caucus says the community needs the pit's product and supports keeping the permit, as long as the operators meet its performance standards. This fall's change is how much the pit can move at night, and the airport project the material is going to.

Forty, Sixty, One Hundred Thirty

The scale is easiest to see against the last time the county raised these limits.

In 2012, The Aspen Times reported that commissioners doubled Elam's night operations for that season and raised the nightly cap by half. Elam had to give the Woody Creek Caucus and W/J Ranch homeowners 72 hours' notice. Commissioners said neither group objected.

The 2026 approval goes much further. The nightly ceiling is more than three times the standing permit. Elam first planned 32 operating nights, compared with the 10 it already has, starting on Oct. 12. It had to wait for county approval, and it does not plan to work nights past Thanksgiving, so this year's run is shorter than first planned.

What the Caucus Wrote Down in 2016

The neighborhood's concerns about the pit were written down nine years before this approval. The caucus master plan lists noise and dust as ongoing issues. It calls strict enforcement of noise rules and limited operating hours "critical" and asks that caucus members be allowed site visits to check performance. It names the specific sounds:

"Noise pollution from the backup signals on the trucks, the noise of the jake brakes, as well as banging on the sides of the trucks to empty them should continue to be addressed."

Those concerns were about truck operations, and trucking is the part of the work this fall's approval expands. Crushing and asphalt production are not included in the night work, and the existing noise requirements still apply.

The plan also gives the community's position on roads. It says concrete and dump trucks should not use River Road or McClain Flats Road to get around the main highway, except to deliver to an address reachable only by River Road. That is the caucus's stated expectation, written into its master plan, and the plan adds that any change to the pit's operations, temporary or permanent, should get input from the Woody Creek District Planning Commission and the caucus. An emergency resolution with a later confirmatory hearing is the county's process. The caucus's 2016 language is the community's.

Why It Stops at Thanksgiving, and Why It Comes Back

Elam told commissioners it does not plan to run night work past Thanksgiving. A company representative also said Elam will return with another request for 2027. This fall's stockpiling is the first of two seasons, and the second has a larger project behind it.

The airport has set the closure dates. It closes Sunday, April 4, 2027, at 11 p.m. and reopens Friday, Nov. 19, 2027, at 7 p.m. There will be no commercial flights, no general aviation and no terminal access in between. According to the airport's runway reconstruction FAQs, the runway is being rebuilt to FAA Airplane Design Group III standards. It will widen from 100 to 150 feet and shift about 80 feet west, and that combination is why a partial closure isn't possible. The wingspan limit goes from 95 feet to 118 feet. Construction on the new commercial terminal and FBO also starts in April 2027. Flights will use the existing terminal after the runway reopens, until the new terminal is finished in 2029.

The materials Elam is stockpiling from the Woody Creek pit this fall are meant to keep that rebuild on schedule next year.

The Calendar From Here

1. Through Nov. 3. Night hauling continues under the emergency resolution, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., up to 130 loads a night.
2. Wednesday, Nov. 4. Pitkin County commissioners hold the confirmatory reading and public hearing on the resolution.
3. Tuesday, Nov. 24. The last night of the approved hauling window, just before Thanksgiving.
4. Date not yet set. Elam has said it will come back to commissioners with another request for 2027.
5. Sunday, April 4, 2027, 11 p.m. The airport closes.
6. Friday, Nov. 19, 2027, 7 p.m. The airport reopens on the new runway.

The airport calls the project timeline complex, weather-dependent and subject to change.

Flying Out While Woody Creek Supplies the Runway

Next spring, Woody Creek households will feel the project a second way. For commercial service during the closure, the airport lists Denver International, Grand Junction Regional, Montrose Regional and Vail/Eagle County Regional. It says United and American have added flights at Eagle. Rifle is listed for general aviation only. In its May 2026 announcement, the airport said it would share details on local ground transportation before the closure.

The airport handles the runway questions directly. It takes questions, comments and concerns at [email protected] or on its construction hotline, 970-920-5284. It posts construction bulletins at aspenairport.com/construction and sends project alerts by email and text through PitkinAlerts. It also lists community briefings during the closure and regular chances for public feedback. Questions about the pit's night hours go to the county commissioners, and Nov. 4 is the date for those.

Night hauling from the Vagneur Pit is approved through Nov. 24, and Elam has said it will ask the county again for 2027.

Questions about how the runway rebuild and the 2027 closure might affect a home in Woody Creek, McLain Flats or Starwood, or the timing of a sale or purchase around them, are the kind Hank Carter answers in person. Schedule a private consultation, and we'll go through the dates with you.