So...will the Gladden pass be in the same condition as the Redhorn, or a bit less maintained?
That is indeed a good question. The only knowledge given on the pass (afaik) is this quote from LotR; time: around december 3018 T.A.:
Many [elves] had gone east and south; and some of these had crossed the Mountains and entered Mirkwood, while others had climbed the pass at the source of the Gladden River, and had come down into Wilderland and over the Gladden Fields and so at length had reached the old home of Radagast at Rhosgobel.
So what does that mean? The answer is simple: We have to make up our own story for that pass, and I have one:
Facts:
At around 2450 T.A. Orcs began to occupy Moria (which was since 1980 held solely by the Balrog); in 2509 T.A. Celebrían, Elronds wife, gets waylaid on the Redhorn pass by orcs.
Story:
Elrond and Galadriel decide that they need a more or less safe possibility to travel from Rivendell to Lothlórien. The solution is a new secret pass - the gladden pass. I also decided to add a (older) road along the Anduin, connecting Loth, the High pass and the Men-i-Naugrim, and thus also the Gladden pass.
For that the design of the gladden pass road may be as followed: A rather quickly established road, without (m)any bridges and tunnels as the redhorn pass has, and probably steeper and harder to walk. But the general state may be good.
Now you may ask yourself (as many other people did): Why didnt the fellowship take the gladden pass then? Well, a simple possibility would be argueing that by 3018 T.A. that pass too was occupied by orcs and thus making it not much better than the redhorn pass; and the latter is the faster way. Another variable in the game may be Dol Guldur which was gaining strength from around 2500 onwards; an indice is that in 2841 Thrain II. was captured near Dol Guldur, thus it may have started to control the road I mentioned above (that road ultimatively connects Loth and the woodland realm).
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