Holy hell, I've never seen it as busy at 6:15 am as it was today. Going 20-45 mph from the on ramp of c470 to 70 to 40 was awesome. Yes, it is a holiday weekend but geezus....
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Holy hell, I've never seen it as busy at 6:15 am as it was today. Going 20-45 mph from the on ramp of c470 to 70 to 40 was awesome. Yes, it is a holiday weekend but geezus....
Periodic driving tests would do no good. People know how to drive when there is a cop around, but otherwise they just do as they please. Most know how to drive, they just choose not to cuz they don't give a fuck about others.
average 80 mph this morning on my way to work, topped out at 90 a few times easy as pie drive till the county line and jeffco cops were working it and only could do 8 over, used the horn once and counted to three a few times
the way home was a little rough but still managed 80 mph avg, my bro claimed to hit 110 up gtown hill a half hr after me (100 isn't unheard of on the flats before the hill on a low traffic day) I'll give it to him
still don't know what the problem is with I 70, it was a nice saturday drive for me
I find myself going really fast between 40 and Georgetown without even knowing. When the other side is stacked with cars I kind of feel bad, and I kind of giggle.
It's Front Range drivers that are clueless bc there's generally not that much snow and when it does snow, it is gone in like a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by ole2planker
Maybe we should start a heli op to the mtns? Run it out of the Dinosaur Lot?Quote:
Originally Posted by MJbumper1121
Um, no. Those guys are actually working; you're recreating. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you'll realize nobody gives a shit how long you sit in traffic.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbreak
It's not that anyone is driving illegally, it's just that they aren't driving in a fashion conducive to keeping lots of vehicles moving. It doesn't take much to screw up a 2 lane highway with 10's of thousands of cars trying to drive on it. And with 10's of thousands of cars that's a lot of opportunities to screw it all up.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiBall
Maybe because doing so would require leveling a bunch of houses, or stacking the road through Idaho Springs?Quote:
Originally Posted by fastfred
But keep blaming Clear Creek, whose only benefit from the interstate running through it are realized by the few places where people gas up and piss, and the residents who were looking for an excuse for not going anywhere on a weekend during peak summer and winter travel.
Even chained up the semi-trucks spin out on the approach to the Johnson Tunnel.
Still trying to figure out why the CDOT pick-up truck was able to push a semi-truck up the approach, but the semi couldn't make it on its own.
I'm not saying in does not suck, but think about what kind of leverage you day skiers have? It's pretty close to zero. The mountain communities and ski area operators don't care how long you sit in traffic. The infrastructure of the resorts is already pretty maxes. When the resorts are empty because the skiers are fed up with the traffic, then you'll have leverage. Right now, if you don't sit in traffic, someone else will. Your $400 pass buying, PBR in the parking lot, Cliff Bar eating ass ain't paying the bills. The ski areas and mountain communities want you to say over instead of driving home, they want you to eat dinner Sunday night in town, get it?
It is a problem for YOU, but politically there is very little motivation for change. What's the payback for society as a whole to fund huge public works projects with dubious financial gain and incremental to zero tax revenue?
Actually, this study claims a $1B annual impact from I70 congestion (assuming inflation from 2005 number).Quote:
Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles
http://www.i70solutions.org/docs/rep...ril%202007.pdf
I would say thats plenty of reason to build up some lanes.
^^^Nice study! Did you read it?
a. only $25m is associated with recreation (that us...skiers) assuming a 1% decrease in tourism spending in the mountain region
b. the big number $728m is a function of an assumed 0.5% decrease in business efficiency in all metro and I-70 corridor economies
My point was that front range day skiers have no leverage. Your study supports that. Simplified, the tax wide tax base (and the feds through transfer payments) ain't gonna jump up and down to fund a project to get more more recreationalists into the mountain communities. Now if you get some private sector heavy weights with deep pockets and lots of leverage lobbying that I70 congestion is a huge drag on commerce as a whole, that's a different story. I'm not saying that I70 is not a problem, simply that if the problem is pigeon holed as "getting day skiers to and from the resorts", its a dead end street.
Yeah, obviously it's not as simple as day skiers, or we'd never have Memorial Day, Labor Day and summer slowdowns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles
The feds will have to get involved. You will never get the tax/toll revenue to pay off a major rebuild of the highway.
I have no idea what the overall economic impact of FR day skiers is, but I'd imagine its no number to scoff at either..
It's the Broncos fault. If they'd lost last week the traffic would have spread out between Saturday and Sunday, but instead everybody wanted to ski Saturday and watch football Sunday. Right now traffic is flowing at 55-65 the whole way, according to CDOT.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJbumper1121
1:15 Denver to Copper...solution is to have Bronco games every weekend day
Quote:
Originally Posted by newbreak
No he knows your an "entitled fuckwad", without observing your driving, he knows because you just proposed to put your PLAY in front of someone else's WORK.
I was raised you don't bother a man with non work when he's working (if you can't help the LEAST you can do is not hinder)...in fact I was raised where respect of that rule was a mark of a mans character, I still think it's a good rule on both common sense AND judging character.
And the traffic wouldn't change all that much, but your ability to procure goods and services as well as their prices would change more than you can possibly imagine.
I'll bite. What you call PLAYING is actually a multi-billion dollar industry in the US: the ski recreation industry. Traffic adversely affects this important driver of the economy in Colorado. I imagine the truck drivers don't like dealing with ski traffic either, and I'm sure the smart ones plan their routes and travel times accordingly.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigMontana
This whole thread should be deleted. If you don't know how to make skiing I-70 resorts work without encountering traffic you're a Colorado JONG and you should ski somewhere else. There is a huge state out there, replete with snow-covered mountains.
Holy shit, you guys whine a lot for people who choose to live in a major population area. I have zero sympathy for folks who choose to live where there is traffic then bitch about the traffic.
Which of you as swipes is going to come up with a solution and make a few million dollars?
There is a solution for sure. No one should have to pay the tens of billions it would cost. It is a mountain road (hwy) and it is amazing it works so well as it is.
10 hours a week out of 168 available is less than 6% difference and it would most likely have a direct result in traffic flow and subsequent decrease in incidents.
Some local trucking companies (natural foods for instance) actually follow this protocol already in CO, it's not a novel idea.
It's not perfect asswad , but it's better than bitching.
The normal solution is avoid west bound weekends between 2-8 PM and be eastbound around 6AM.
Thank you captain obvious. Is it really that hard for people to figure out when everyone else in Denver will be going to/from the ski areas, and avoid being on the road at those times?Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnM
Do you all leave your dentist jobs at 4:55 pm, get on I-25, and wonder why the hell you're sitting in traffic?
Why would anyone want to do that. ;). Check your compass.Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnM
You really want to compare each specific "industry" economic impact? I'll spot you multi billion dollar industry on your end, and raise you everything you do on a daily basis, from shit to ski.Quote:
Originally Posted by COpow
The thought process was that it's not funny that someone would think that they have more of a right to use something for play than another person does for work, it's horrific, and this self centered lack of reason is a major reason for [insert problem in today's society here].
Also the vast majority of truckers don't get to plan their routes and times, they pick up at 3 pm and have to deliver 550 miles away in 11 hours, or similar, eating while not moving is a rare luxury let alone shutting down all receiving from east or west bound sources for hours at a time.
I'm lucky enough to drive freight where I get to say I'll be there when I am there, 98% of drivers can't do that.
Whole foods plans shipping and receiving around traffic? Remind me how their price structure compares to the places people shop that don't have excessive disposable trust fund or stock market money?
I've heard it would cost like $4 billion to build a train from Denver to Glenwood that would stop in Summit, Vail and Eagle along the way. There are 5 million people in Colorado, 4 million of whom live in the Front Range.
Can we just start a fund to build the damn train? I'll pony up and give $1,000 tomorrow. If everyone in the Front Range did that we'd pay for the train.
You are a retarded douche. If you can't figure it why, it's because you are a retarded douche.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbreak
Right you are (or perhaps Left you are). Dyslexia strikes again.Quote:
Originally Posted by skipowpow
Yesterday was no problem. Super Bowl Sunday should be a breeze as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrbd
this is just a fantasy it's a nice idea but the reality is garbage, just look at RTD and their train system, all lies, they didn't have a clue about actual costs, it was suppose to be built out in less than 20 years and now it might be done in 50 or more yearsQuote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
what happens when the train stops in silverthorne or frisco? there will be no spur to keystone or breck, so then you have to rely on public transportation, summit county cannot keep their bus system afloat as it is, the current summit stage is a disaster waiting to implode, no funding, busses are trash, drivers in short supply, rider numbers are flat
public transportation is a joke in colorado, people are way to self absorbed to take the bus, especially to the mtns they need a big SUV with alll the comforts of home I repeat people are way to white and wealthy in colorado to consider public transportation as a vaible option
massive amounts of money need to be dumped into the highway itself a third bore at loveland needs to be done ASAP, then maybe in fifty or a hundred years that bore could be used for some pie in the sky train
That would be incorrect. Colorado state law is that on any divided 65mph highway all drivers are required to be in the right lanes unless passing. The problem is that the law is not enforced. How many douches do you see on the highway every day that believe they "own" the left lane no matter what they're doing?Quote:
Originally Posted by GPP33
I guess I'm just getting used to all those guys as it's a common occurrence in Colorado on any given road. I still don't think they are a major player though. My theory is that it's the people who don't know how to merge into the fast lane to pass and the people in the fast lane (and the slow lane for that matter) that aren't paying attention to what's happening up ahead. Just a few people slamming on thier brakes too hard because they are over reacting to brake lights up ahead can make a real mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild4umlauts
No one is going to ride a train to go skiing.
You think driving is a shit show. How about carrying all of your gear around all day? and dragging it from Train to Bus to Bus to Train?
Wanna bring some clothes to change into at the end of the day? Better get ready to pay top dollar for a locker room club?
Once the wealthy elite skiers actually think about taking public transportation to go skiing, the thought of sitting idle in the Range Rover with the kids sounds a lot more appealing.
It's not about being self absorbed...who is going to drive to Union Station with 2 kids and all their stuff, get on a train to Frisco, then get on a bus to Breck then get on a gondola, just to get to the base of Peak 8. That's completely unrealistic.
Even the most hardened New Yorker who rides the bus and subway everywhere isn't going to do that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fastfred
Let’s not act like “stupid drivers doing stupid things” is something that can be fixed. They exist in every city across the country.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild4umlauts
There are way too many “what if” scenarios with flow of traffic-esque issues that it’s rare that it will ever be enforced.
Try 10 times that for Denver to Glenwood. You ready to convince everyone to pay $10,000 each now?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
Fuck it. I'll give $10k.Quote:
Originally Posted by simple
This state is turning into Los Angeles. We can't let that happen.
As for the Keystone/ Breckenridge comments- it would be totally possible to build light rail to both places. You all talk about it like it is an impossibility. It is not.
It is impossible, for so many different reasons. First of all, light rail is not powerful enough to make it up many of the steeper grades on 170, and would therefore require a more expensive technology such as EMU or maglev, or ridiculously expensive tunnels to avoid the steeper grades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
Second, have any of you guys actually looked at the cost estimates for the train? Last I saw it was something like 10 billion. This is pie in the sky type of stuff and will NEVER happen. Even if the train did get built, tickets are going to cost upwards of 50 bucks. Who is going to pay that? Not worth it, especially if traveling with multiple people.
The next problem is that the west rail line is a light rail system, and would therefore require a transfer to the ski train at i70, which will be a different technology. This ski train won't even get near most ski areas besides MAYBE copper and Loveland. Vail is not happening. Can you really imagine the residents of vail valley allowing a train through their precious real estate? So to get to most ski resorts from central denver would require a minimum of 2 transfers. 3 from the airport. And you expect people to do this with ski gear etc?
The only real public transit solution for i70 IMHO would be a large BRT system with different routes that terminated at different ski areas. Much cheaper to implement, and actually more effective for many reasons
If a public transportation system did work, I'd think the towns and mtns would be even more crowded. Fuck that.