Engineering our
mountain communities

Public infrastructure, Water resources

Basalt Vista Affordable Housing

Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, Pitkin County, and the Basalt School District on award-winning affordable housing.

RFE was employed by Habitat for Humanity (HFH) to perform a civil site design for a 6 acre lot in Pitkin County near Basalt High School. The site required extensive civil design, which included a debris flow analysis, water, sewer, drainage and dry utility infrastructure. The offsite basin draining onto the site is 176 acres and RFE created an HEC-HMS model to determine the flows entering the site. The point of concentration of this large basin was the south western corner of the property. Using HEC-HMS, RFE designed a large detention pond to control the out flow and divert around the proposed housing. Onsite, RFE designed a closed drainage system of inlets and culverts, which discharged into a separate detention pond south of the high school. The drainage study analyzed both existing and proposed flows in order to design a system that projected downstream properties from flooding. Both drainage studies were documented in extensive reports that were compliant with the Town of Basalt’s drainage code. The project received approval from the Town and construction began in Spring of 2018. RFE completed work according to the project schedule and budget.

Challenges & highlights

The results

Elevation: 8,700

Location: Basalt, CO

  • Civil set design
  • Debris flow analysis
  • Water infrastructure
  • Sewer infrastructure
  • Drainage infrastructure
  • Dry utility infrastructure

Infrastructure that lasts

Whether you’re planning a new development, upgrading public infrastructure, or improving community systems, our team is ready to help bring your project from concept to completion.