|
Colorado - Thu. 10/08/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
|
|
View in Browser
|
|
|
| |
CONGESTION ON I-70 MOUNTAIN CORRIDOR RESULTS IN COST OF $2.25 BILLION
|
| |
|
|
| |
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. released a report Tuesday which quantified the financial cost of congestion on the Interstate 70 mountain corridor from Grand Junction to Denver. The cost was estimated to be $2.25 billion a year, which is up from $839 million in 2007 when Development Research Partners last studied the issue. Of that $1.4 billion increase, only 45 percent reflected higher costs because of inflation. The majority reflects a congestion problem that is getting worse, not better, despite some investments and lots of complaining, the study says.
The study breaks out what is behind the $2.25 billion a year estimate as follows:
- $1.9 billion in lost economic activity. Just a small 0.5 percent decrease in worker productivity and business efficiency because of congestion shaves real dollars off state GDP
- $319 million in costs due to lost personal time along the I-70 Mountain corridor alone
- $47 million reflects tourism declines. Even a small 1 percent decline in visits after a bad experience translates into millions of dollars lost in future spending
- $14 million in additional shipping costs from truck delays
- The researchers did project the cost of making an impact on the money lost due to time, productivity, etc., of the delays - $30 billion.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
OPENSNOW WEBINAR ON UPCOMING SEASON: GOOD ODDS ON LATE SEASON SNOW
|
| |
|
|
| |
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Joel Gratz, the founding meteorologist of OpenSnow, hosted a webinar for the ski industry on the upcoming season. OpenSnow is a weather subscription service that is tailored to skiers, snowboarders and the winter sports industry, and in attendance at the webinar were representatives from Monarch Ski Area in Colorado, Vail Resorts’ properties, including Park City in Utah, as well as ski resorts on the East Coast. In the webinar, Gratz broke down the hype around the El Niño and what it does — and doesn’t — mean for the coming ski season. Gratz said, “There will likely be more snow later in the season, or at least more storminess later in the season. Could we have a decent start and OK snow in the middle? Absolutely, but the signal is there for a pretty active late season.”
Gratz said there is a lot of “nuance” when it comes to how the 2026-27 season, and the El Niño will play out around the country — and he thinks forecasters should say “I don’t know” more often. Historically, El Niño patterns have led to more snow later in the ski season, especially in states like Colorado, but there’s no guarantee that the pattern will lead to an above-average season.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
NEW HOTEL OPENS WITHIN MINUTES OF DIA ON TOWER ROAD CORRIDOR
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
September 15 was the grand opening of the Holiday Inn & Suites Commerce City – Denver Airport, located at 18201 E. 81st Avenue. The four-story, 65,000-square-foot hotel has 106 rooms and is the second-closest hotel to Denver International Airport, being less that 10 minutes away. The only hotel closer is the Westin, which is directly connected to DIA’s Jeppesen Terminal. The hotel is only the second in Commerce City and the first to be developed along the city’s Tower Road corridor. Hotel amenities include: a complimentary airport shuttle, on-site restaurant and bar, an indoor pool, fitness amenities and electric vehicle charging spaces. There’s also a meeting and event space that can accommodate around 100 people and can host catered events.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
JEFFCO’S MEYER RANCH PARK TO UNDERTAKE MAJOR FIRE MITIGATION CUTTING
|
| |
|
|
| |
The popular Meyer Ranch Park in Jefferson County will close this month for a significant forest management project to begin tree-thinning in the park which is "dangerously overgrown" and presents an "extreme fire risk", according to Jefferson County Open Space. The fire mitigation effort is centered around 185 forested acres of the 675-acre park, which are located mostly on the south side of U.S. Hwy. 285. Between 50 percent and 70 percent of the existing trees will be removed to allow the more resilient, soil- and animal-friendly trees to thrive, including aspens and Ponderosa pines — with aspens in particular being more fire resistant than most, given their higher moisture content and lack of flammable resins. The mixed conifers that are set to be removed are far more vulnerable.
Visitors who hike or ride bikes or horses through the area will notice the change immediately. Park officials know that visitors will miss the space, which is typically open year-round, once it closes on Oct. 19, with a tentative reopening date of March 31, 2027. It contains a popular sledding hill that empties into a meadow, and 4 miles of trails that wind through gorgeous foothills scenery. Alternative park locations near the Conifer/Evergreen/Pine area are Alderfer/Three Sisters, Beaver Ranch, Elk Meadow, Flying J Ranch, Pine Valley and Reynolds.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
SUNDANCE TICKETS GO ON SALE NEXT WEEK
|
| |
|
|
| |
Passes for the 2027 Sundance Film Festival in Boulder go on sale Oct. 15, launching an early ticket window that opens well ahead of the festival’s actual lineup. Organizers do not plan to reveal which movies will be playing until December, as a result, early ticket-package buyers are faced with locking dates before any titles have been released. The 43rd edition, which runs Jan. 21-31 in Boulder, marks the annual January festival’s first-time hosting audiences outside Utah. On Oct. 15, ticket packages will go on sale, but not single movie tickets. Moviegoers who only want to catch a film or two can skip the Oct. 15 sale. Instead, single tickets will go on sale on Jan. 8 for $37 apiece.
Options for package sales, on sale Oct. 15, range from a student bundle at $275 to unlimited in-person screenings for the second half of the festival for $4,500. Options include: $350 Matinee Ticket Package covering 10 screenings starting before 5 p.m. from Jan. 25–29; $450 Second Half Ticket Package covering 10 screenings from Jan. 27–31; and the $675 Encore Ticket Package covering 10 screenings but excludes each film’s first public screening.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
10-YEAR TREASURY NOTE YIELD HITS HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 2002
|
| |
|
|
| |
Stocks fell on Wednesday as pressure continued to build in the bond market, pushing Treasury yields to levels not seen in more than two decades. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield climbed more than 8 basis points to trade at 5.356 percent, its highest level since April 2002. The 30-year bond yield gained more than 8 basis points to 5.725 percent, its highest level since May 2002. The Treasury tested whether the yields were attractive enough to draw buyers or investors with the sale of $39 billion of 10-year notes at auction on Wednesday. The notes in the auction had a remaining maturity of nine years and 10 months.
The $39 billion auction of 10-year notes drew solid demand, with a high yield of 5.300 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.77. The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold. The 10-year auction average is 2.25. Indirect bidders, which include foreign central banks and institutional investors, took 80.34 percent of the sale. Direct bidders accounted for 17.12 percent. Primary dealers were left with just 2.54 percent of the offering. The high allotment to end investors underscored overall demand at the auction.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
SNOW BLANKETS AT SNOWMASS & BUTTERMILK WORKED VERY WELL
|
| |
|
|
| |
There were skiers and snowboarders riding on snow at Snowmass Resort over the weekend. No, there was not a sudden snowstorm or even cold weather as mountain bikers bombed down Snowmass’ trails through the golden-leafed canopy of autumn. The skiers and boarders were on about 300 feet of snow at the Makaha Terrain Park, which was opened for the weekend. The snow was the result of the pilot program at Snowmass and Buttermilk using Snow Security technology's insulating blankets to cover piles of snow collected in April. After five months of a hot, dry summer, 85 percent of the snow volume stored at Snowmass remained when the blankets were removed late this summer.
At Buttermilk, where another pile rested on the slope above the half pipe, about 84 percent remained, including both melt and the natural compression of the pile. At Buttermilk, sensors recorded an average temperature of 62.6 degrees on top of the blankets between April 19 and Aug. 31. Beneath the insulation, the average was 34.8 degrees. The outside temperature reached as high as 121 degrees in direct summer sun, while the snow underneath never rose above 44.9 degrees. It is estimated the insulated tarps saved snow that would take about 3.5 million gallons of water to manufacture. The experiment was such a success that Aspen is already buying more.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
FRENCH & JAPANESE RESEARCHERS AWARDED 2026 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for breakthroughs within asymmetric synthesis that have helped advance the development of modern pharmaceuticals. The pair’s research relates to homochirality, which is the tendency of living systems to use just one of two possible mirror-image forms of a molecule. Henri Kagan is based at France’s Université Paris-Sud; and Kenso Soai at the Tokyo University of Science and the two will share the 12 million Swedish kronor, or roughly $1.2 million, prize.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
STUDENT & LABOR PROTESTS IN FRANCE
|
| |
|
|
| |
Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as labor unions rallied in solidarity with high school students who have spent two weeks blockading schools to protest understaffing, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings. The protests started at a single school in the suburbs of Paris last month and quickly spread to hundreds of schools across the country. At their blockades, students spoke about overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated buildings and absent teachers who were often not replaced. Labor activists, teachers, parents and university students turned out by the thousands on Tuesday to join high school students in demonstrations that swept across France, adding an intergenerational range of voices to demands that government fix ailing schools.
Marches were held in more than 40 cities, from Caen in the north to Marseille in the south, as activists, teachers, parents and university students joined swelling protests that had spread to hundreds of schools across the country. Tuesday’s marches drew roughly 256,000 people, according to the French Interior Ministry; a major union said the figure was more than twice that many.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
WEST AFRICAN LANGUAGE & CULTURE PRESERVED ON THE U.S. EAST COAST
|
| |
|
|
| |
In the 1700s, the English colonists in the Carolina Lowcountry along the Eastern seaboard of the United States increasingly brought people from Central African countries and West Africa's Rice Coast, to work on plantations. They sought out these people for their agricultural knowledge to cultivate rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton in the coastal wetlands and islands. They also spoke a language found nowhere else in the world, Gullah. It was in this region, namely South Carolina’s Port Royal Sound, that the first self-governed town of free Black people in the U.S. was built. Mitchelville was created by formerly enslaved people of West and Central African heritage who spoke Gullah. These people, the Gullah Geechee, eventually established a series of free settlements and communities on the isolated sea and barrier islands across the south-eastern US, developing their own distinct culture while preserving many of their indigenous African traditions.
On Oct. 12, 2026, the roughly 500-mile strip known as the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor celebrated the 20th anniversary of when Congress designated it a National Heritage Area. Along this scenic coastal stretch, from North Carolina to southern Florida, Gullah Geechee culture lives on through its unique language, musical traditions and beliefs, offering travelers a window into the many ways African culture directly shaped the US. The Gullah Geechee cuisine is derived from the traditional West and Central African one-pot stew-type meals featuring rice, tomatoes, spices, smoked pork and sausage. With the availability of sweetgrass, bulrush, palmetto and pine, the West African coiled basketry continues, as do the traditional West African musical and spiritual practices. There are Gullah museums in Georgetown, S.C. and on Hilton Head Island.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS TO BECOME HURRICANE BEFORE COMING ASHORE
|
| |
|
|
| |
The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday that Tropical Storm Isaias has formed in the Gulf on Wednesday and is strengthening as it makes its way toward the coast, where it's expected to make a U.S. landfall. Isaias has become the ninth named storm in the Atlantic Basin, but it will be the first to reach hurricane status.
Here are the impacts of Isais:
- Isaias is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, with the potential to become a strong hurricane before reaching the northern Gulf
- A Hurricane Watch covers the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass, Florida
- A Storm Surge Watch extends from the mouth of the Mississippi River east to Yankeetown, Florida
- Life-threatening storm surge is possible, with the current forecast calling for 5 to 7 feet of inundation above normally dry ground along much of the Alabama and northwest Florida coast, including Mobile Bay
- Tropical-storm conditions could begin Friday, with hurricane conditions possible later Friday into Friday night
- Heavy rain of several inches is likely, with localized higher totals and the potential for flash flooding
- Tornadoes will also be possible, particularly near and east of the storm’s eventual track
- The storm is expected to grow in size approaching the coast, meaning significant impacts could extend well away from the exact center
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MARKET UPDATE - 10/07/2026 Close
|
| |
|
(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
|
| |
|
Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 10/01/2026)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
| |
Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Make changes to your subscription or unsubscribe here. |
| © 2026 Alpine Bank. |
| |
|
|
