Rail transport may yet return to the bridge. In 1975 Aspen voters approved a referendum permitting the city to endorse the county's application to the federal Urban Mass Transportation Authority for the funding of a light rail system to connect downtown Aspen to the airport, and perhaps the Buttermilk ski area and eventually all the way to Glenwood Springs using either of the old rights-of-way. Later votes endorsed other aspects of the proposal. In 1997 the Federal Highway Administration and CDOT issued a Record of Decision (ROD) in favor of a light-rail network and improvements to Highway 82, including the new bridge eventually built. The light rail line would likely use the old bridge and the old Midland route where it exists, since those tracks had already accounted for the steep grades in the valley, not a common problem with light-rail lines.