OFFICIAL I70 BITCH THREAD....

[Kevo]

The obvious best solution in my mind was to put two lanes over the hill as your southbound and keep the existing road as a two lane northbound route. That would be cheaper, safer, easier, and result in better traffic flow.

Well reasoned, logical and cost effective. No wonder they didn't do it.

[cmsummit]

the funny thing is there was never any accidents on the curves they were always on the straight away right around the turn off for the parking lot / hiking trail to the lake, tons of head ons, fender benders, and supermans off the road

Never? I was hit head on coming around Leslie's corner by an 18 year old Summit High student in 2007. Middle of the day with perfect weather and dry roads. The kid simply wasn't paying attention and careened off the guardrail, which sent him broadside into my lane. I had a split second to slam on the brakes, but our combined speed on impact was probably still 60-70mph. Both vehicles were complete losses. I'm just thankful my daughter who was 18 months at the time, wasn't with me.

And Summit, where did you hear that the new Hwy 9 alignment had 10% grades? Maximum road grade along that new alignment is 5.19%, with most of it at 4%. That info is from my CDOT engineer friend.

EDIT: Summit, it could be that you saw a 9.98% grade on some plans, but that's the grade where the new road ties into the old Iron Springs dirt, forest service road.

It was both the degree of curve (well over 90) and the fact that it was a compound curve (not tangent-curve-tangent) that made Leslie's more dangerous than other segments of road. The new alignment will be a nice improvement.

[Name Redacted]

Didn't Leslie's curve get it's name from some drunk old timer who was the first to drive off the road there and ended up in the lake? Something like that. At least there's a hospital right there now.

Pretty sure it isn't a 10% grade. They've moved a shitton of dirt already to get that down. Either way, people are gonna crash on it. I'm just glad they are trying to make some progress. Cutting over a mile off the route to Breck ain't bad either. Maybe they can install some of those mag-chloride squirters on the hill like they have outside Seattle! That'd be sweet.

ETA: I'm all good with getting rid of the hilly part of the bike path too, real buzz kill when we are biking between breweries. Much better to ride flat and along the lake.

[cmsummit]

Didn't Leslie's curve get it's name from some drunk old timer who was the first to drive off the road there and ended up in the lake? Something like that. At least there's a hospital right there now.

Pretty sure it isn't a 10% grade. They've moved a shitton of dirt already to get that down.

Not sure where the name came from, but I bet you're not too far off.

When I had my accident all I had to tell the paramedics was that I felt a little pain in my neck and I got the 90 second ride to the hospital. The pain in my neck was quickly forgotten as the back of my head hurt like hell from being strapped to a backboard for 2 hours.

Yeah, it's only a 5.19% max grade along centerline, confirmed from the construction plans. 10% profile grades are well beyond CDOT design standards for a 4-lane arterial road. They don't like going over 7%.

[fastfred]

the ski off will have to be sled assisted kinda f lat

[cmsummit]

the ski off will have to be sled assisted kinda f lat

No sleds, we'll rob some equipment from the kite boarders.

[fastfred]

No sleds, we'll rob some equipment from the kite boarders.

classic

maybe we can do a triathlon of sorts

kite board it
sledneck it
skate ski it

best combined time wins

[montanaskier]

Thinking of taking my snows off

[MakersTeleMark]

Thanks for the new sig.

[SkiBall]

Putting mine on this week. Anticipation. Meanwhile it's a beautiful day I guess.

[zartagen]

Thinking of taking my snows off

Do it. And leave them off. If it works, maybe some people around here will forget about a certain football team.

[Lindahl]

Just rode 2 elk today... sad... but oh so good

[smmokan]

Just rode 2 elk today... sad... but oh so good

I was wondering if that was still good to go. That's just silly.

[The SnowShow]

Storm hits on Thursday. I'm going with the over on three I-70 closures due to accidents.

[Kevo]

2 inches of snow on warm ground does tend to shut down I-70

[Danno]

2 inches of snow does tend to shut down I-70

fixed

[goldenboy]

I was wondering if that was still good to go. That's just silly.

I'd say almost everything is good to go, for another couple of days at least. Doctor's was great 2 days ago, friends rode Crest/ Starvation last weekend.

[MakersTeleMark]

Storm hits on Thursday. I'm going with the over on three I-70 closures due to accidents.

2 inches of snow on warm ground does tend to shut down I-70

I-70 Westbound Vail Pass Summit (Milemarker 190-190)
Safety closure due to spun out semis. Incident began November 17th, 2016 at 9:54am.

[MakersTeleMark]

Strike 2: "I-70 is closed WB at 190, top of Vail Pass, due to accidents. Expect delays and use caution in that area. "

[MakersTeleMark]

Strike 3: "Vail Pass is closed EB at Main Vail 176 for safety, still closed WB due to accidents"

[montanaskier]

[Soups]

Too be fair it looks like it's fucking dumping up there. The Loveland cam is showing around 3" in the last hour

[montanaskier]

[montanaskier]

Ridiculous....so many unprepared folks....and at least 6 stuck trucks and I counted 14 more not stuck but none had chains...currently dead stopped on the pass....welcome
Back winter! Woooooooo'

[The SnowShow]

Again, I think there needs to be a winter weather driver's test for anyone driving in the mtns (not sure how to handle those passing through or rentals) and huge fines for bald tires and more chain laws.