Avoid Silverton Colorado

FWC wrote:
I entirely understand the residents of Silverton objection to ATV/UTVs, living with this on a day-to-day basis would have a major impact on quality of life. This is also not just a Silverton issue, Moab and lots of other towns are having this same discussion.

To start with, there are no street legal ATVs/UTVs in Colorado, and by default it is not legal to ride these on public streets. Silverton had made an exception to allow these on roads in town (as had Lake City etc) however I don't think anyone quite realized the volume of vehicles that this would eventually turn into and the resulting noise, dust and bad behavior. Not allowing ATVs on roads is really just going back to the status quo, not banning something that is otherwise allowed.

While I am sure the people who profit off ATVs are not happy about this, everyone else in town was bearing the brunt and reduced quality of life and have now spoken up about it. This is further exacerbated by the fact that many of the UTVs are rentals by folks with little experience in riding these, and little respect for public lands and the residents of Silverton. There has been discussion of a moratorium on any more ATV/UTV rental outfits in the area (as Moab has done) to try and reduce this impact.

I also hear you about loud Harley and other street legal motorbikes, but that is a very hard thing to enforce on a local level. I do wish the national parks would install decibel meters near the entrances and if you are above the legal limits they would not let you in.