One of Utah’s premiere mountain bike trails, and the centerpiece of Vernal’s trail network, is being threatened by a proposed 5-lane highway. The road, dubbed the Ashley Valley Energy Route, will be 12.3 miles long by 250 feet wide. According to the BLM, approximately 3.16 miles of the road would be located on BLM land. This section will cut right through the mountain bike trails, essentially shutting them down forever. The five lanes of pavement will consist of 2 travel lanes in each direction with shoulders and a center turn lane for a total paved width of 58 feet. Supposedly, this highway is being proposed to relieve the heavy truck traffic and hazardous material transport on US-40 in downtown Vernal.
McCoy Flats is among the first mountain bike trails that were built in Vernal. Located 10 miles west of town, it sports around 60 miles of interconnecting loops that originate from a trailhead on the McCoy Flats Road. Classics include rides like Got Milk?, Fire Sale, Retail Sale and Serendipity.
The trails were first built by Troy Lupcho, a former BMX world champion and owner/operator of Altitude Cycle in Vernal. He’s one of the trail-building godfathers in the area who’s responsible for the McCoy Flats trail system . It all began in 1996 when Lupcho moved to Vernal from Salt Lake City and started cutting trails with Rich Etchberger, who is a professor at Utah State University. The first trail was “Got Milk?” because of all the beat-down cow paths in the area. It soon became the epicenter of mountain biking in Vernal and from there, over the course of the last 18 years, Lupcho and Etchberger have cut over a hundred miles of single track.
All of that hard work is now under attack.
A public scoping period is happening from May 12 – June 12, 2014. In conjunction with the scoping period, a public scoping open house will be held on June 5, 2014 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Vernal City Building Community Room. Representatives from the BLM and the proponent will be present during the meeting to talk face-to-face with members of the public, listen to any concerns, and answer questions about the project. The format of the meeting will be “open house.”
If you’re a mountain biker who loves the McCoy Flat trail system, send the BLM your comments right now, and/or attend the public comment meeting and voice your concerns.
For more information, and a link on how to send the BLM a written comment, go to the BLM’s project webpage.
You can also stay up to date through the McCoy Flats Trails Facebook Page.
We need your help. There have not been many comments to date. You have until June 12, and you can simply email your comment letter to blm_ut_vernal_comments@blm.gov. There are actually more like 60 miles of singletrack at the McCoy Flats complex. Our position has consistently been that we do not oppose the road, just the route. There is room for both in that area if the public demands the trails be spared.
Thanks for letting us know. I made the change in the article about the trail mileage. Appreciate the info. We will get on our social media networks to spread the word about the lack of comments to the BLM so far. Keep fighting the good fight! -Jared