Draft study: Denver-Vail rail line would cost $15B

[capulin overdrive]

trucks aren't the problem. just too damned many dingle berries have moved to Denver, and 99.99% of these dingle berries don't know how to drive!


plus there's far too many cars that don't have any business being in the hills on a snow day!


Denver is by far the worst city i've ever seen for fuckhead drivers! really, how much effort does it take to move your slow moving ass over to the right lane?

[Hacksaw]

Cool old photo of Mt. Sniktau....

[P_McPoser]

It's generally dry and sunny when people are driving on 70 in the summer, as opposed to wet/snowy/icy and dark in the winter. That has a small effect on capacity.

All of the worse traffic I've ever seen on I-70 was in the summer.
Save for one tunnel crash in the winter.
I drive it over 200 days per year.

you don't count the bike path ? sheeit, thats the best way around the gate closure at the bottom of the hill.

No, the best way is to have one of the magic C-DOT closure by-pass stickers. I'd dickwave my sticker, but you goobers would probably try and counterfit it and get me in trouble.

sounds like it would be a good solution to me....only the truly committed would buy season passes, then the ones that are not, would just buy day passes or 4 packs, and the ski company's would probably make even more money from the day passes than they did not the $400 passes. If you cut down on the number of skiers, the powder would last longer and the lines would be shorter.

What about the summer traffic?

As a resident of Summit County, I would personally love a train that runs these routes, although it likely won't ever affect me because a train wouldn't be built in time.

Some of the local population could use this as well. I live in Frisco, but I currently have to commute quite a bit to G'town and Eagle. I would willingly give up the ability and freedom of driving my car, to hop on a train that would take me to these destinations. I could read and work on the train, not put miles on my car, and not pollute the environment with my 8 cylinder engine. I don't care if it is a full on passenger train or Summit's idea.

So while the obvious idea is to try and find some feasible solution for the interstate traffic heading out to and from Denver, I think there are also benefits to be had for the local population when it comes to using the train. Live in Summit, work in Vail, no need for a car. Hell, live in Plume, G'town, or somewhere else on the line that is affordable and work on down the road.

Problem there is that with quicker and easier access to Summit from the CCC side, CCC ceases to be affordable.

[Name Redacted]

I-70 EB shut down on this beautiful saturday mornin. Guess why? Trucks

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_13274633

How many times does the Hwy get shut down because of trucks? High wind closings aren't for cars. How much damage do trucks cause to the highway every year, especially with their chains on. How much money do we spend repairing the roads?

[Hacksaw]

I-70 EB shut down on this beautiful saturday mornin. Guess why? Trucks

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_13274633

How many times does the Hwy get shut down because of trucks? High wind closings aren't for cars. How much damage do trucks cause to the highway every year, especially with their chains on. How much money do we spend repairing the roads?

If you are going to ask those questions, you should also ask how much do the truckers/trucking companies pay in fees and taxes?

I don't like the slow moving trucks either on weekend mornings. I would think that restricting them to not going westbound between 0600 - 0900 hours would help the I-70 traffic a lot on weekends.

[Angel]

Problem there is that with quicker and easier access to Summit from the CCC side, CCC ceases to be affordable.

Alas, you are correct sir. Still will have to be cheaper than Summit though.

[Name Redacted]

If you are going to ask those questions, you should also ask how much do the truckers/trucking companies pay in fees and taxes?

I don't like the slow moving trucks either on weekend mornings. I would think that restricting them to not going westbound between 0600 - 0900 hours would help the I-70 traffic a lot on weekends.

According to some the trucks should pay more. From todays summit daily:

As we reported in Wednesday's Daily, local residents going to renew registrations or purchase new license plates are in for a bit of a shock. ( Read story here.) Effective July 1, Colorado has hiked the cost of such fees to help pay for road and bridge construction. While such specific fees targeted at users who stand to benefit from such fees may make sense on the surface, the reality is the fees represent a regressive tax that all too often hits hardest on those who can least afford it. Fees on an individual vehicle registration don't at all reflect the impact that vehicle may have on the roads: A car or light truck that travels 10- or 15,000 miles annually on state roads is nothing compared to the over-the-road trucks that do the most damage.

The simple truth is, large trucks are not paying their fair share for highway maintenance. Commercial semi-trucks damage highways to a degree far in excess of their numbers. If you don't believe this, travel most any interstate highway, and you will find that the right side “truck lane” is in far worse condition than the left.

We all benefit from over-the-road trucking, without which we in Summit County would not be able to survive, given our current dependence on goods shipped in from around the world. Yes we should be paying more for goods delivered by truck, to compensate for the added cost in terms of highway damage and the many hidden costs of cheap fuel. But in the real world this won't happen. The trucking lobby is much too strong and none of us want to pay more for a tomato, a board or a child's toy than we have to. So, we raise the fees on trailers and on ordinary vehicles (many owed by people who don't have lot of money), while exempting the vehicles that do by far the most damage — commercial trucks and trailers.

This kind of tax policy stinks, and speaks volumes about the lack of resolve on the part of our legislators. Far better than these regressive fees would be an increase in the fuel tax — and yes, it would have to be justified and voted on, but that would be far better than something simply established by executive fiat. If the state needs the money, it should be able to make the case.

The fact is, the state is never going to be able to make up these transportation-needs shortfalls by upping fees year after year, which begs the question of when we will have some real leadership on the transportation issue. If we don't see that leadership soon, our highway system will be in shambles in 20 years or so, if not sooner. The route we're taking is simply not sustainable.

— The Summit Daily Editorial Board consists of Jim Morgan, Alex Miller, Ryan Wondercheck, Matt Sandberg, Morgan Liddick and Howard Hallman.

Seriously, the trucks should pay more or a separate system should be in place. A primarily freight rail system would be beneficial and would not necessarily have to be high-speed like a passenger rail system which might allow it to actually be affordable compared to high speed.

[Little_ey]

I think they did a study like this when I was in 7th grade. The study alone cost something like $10 Mil (and that was back then). It seems that every 10 years, we run a study on this and then think, argue, and procrastinate, then let it sit for another 10 years. Even if we started now, it probably wouldn't be completed until 10 years from now. How long has the T-Rex project been going? Is it even finished yet?

[mitch_cumstein]

So have we solved these problems here on TGR?

The people who actually have invested time and money into this are anxiously awaiting our conclusions............

The most dangerous people in the world are those that believe their own bullshit. There seems to be no shortage on TGR.

[mitch_cumstein]

trucks aren't the problem. just too damned many dingle berries have moved to Denver, and 99.99% of these dingle berries don't know how to drive!


plus there's far too many cars that don't have any business being in the hills on a snow day!


Denver is by far the worst city i've ever seen for fuckhead drivers! really, how much effort does it take to move your slow moving ass over to the right lane?

Yup, that's gotta be it; people in Denver don't know how to drive. Of all the cars I've driven by in my Honda Civic on a storm day, I would have to say that it seems like at least half of them buried in a ditch or spinning on the hill above georgetown were driving SUV's, pickups, or other 4wd vehicles.

[xyz]

We've spent $905 billion on wars in the Middle East. Just think of the infrastructure we could have built at home for that price.

Yes, but it was necessary to protect your freedoms.

[feedthefire]

Avoid I-70, move to SW CO.

[mitch_cumstein]

Yes, but it was necessary to protect your freedoms.

[P_McPoser]

Yes, but it was necessary to protect your freedoms.

shut up, immigrant wannabe.

[xyz]

shut up, immigrant wannabe.

nah, it's much better watching America's collapse from the outside looking in.

[Egon]

There is no alternative to I-70. $$$Cha-ching! Tolls will come before an expensive railroad and the tolls will help pay for it.

[capulin overdrive]

what about making 285 4 lanes and then punching through Peabodys to Dyersville going north?

[P_McPoser]

nah, it's much better watching America's collapse from the outside looking in.

Better hope you get that condo sold before it collapses.

[xyz]

Better hope you get that condo sold before it collapses.

or at least before the US dollar collapses!

[Pablo Escobar]

or at least before the US dollar collapses!

too late for that shit. usd at a year low vs the euro today. what he should do is advertise that condo to the euro crowd.

[P_McPoser]

^^
He lives in BC, why would he ever want to sell his woderful vacation place in Winter Park?