OFFICIAL I70 BITCH THREAD....

[goldengatestinx]

Close the highway just for wind? Or because of reduced visibility and blowing snow?

I agree it's a shit show, but one that's easy to mitigate.

Why not hit the root cause? If vehicles with improper equipment were not allowed to proceed, which would significantly reduce potential for crashes, and also secondarily reduce the number of drivers with little winter driving experience on the road (presuming those with greater experience will have a higher likelihood of proper equipment which is a valid point through not scientifically proven for those ready to whine about my presumption), then the issue of getting through slippery and snowy conditions would be greatly reduced.

Simple.

Enforce the rules/laws and all kinds of societal problems would go away. Stupid people should be held accountable for their decisions.

[Name Redacted]

Yeah, you should run for office

It's not just poor equipment, that is a big part, but it is also just the law of averages. Highway shuts down for accidents in the summer too. If you have 40,000 cars a day going through the tunnel, it just takes one fucking idiot to get in a wreck. Now think of the last time you were around 40,000 people. How many of them were fucking idiots? Probably at least 1 in 10, maybe more. Now you put each of those fucking idiots behind a wheel of a car and they are going to tailgate, not use their blinker, drive to fast, or slow, or be texting while driving. Now throw some semi drivers in the mix, who aren't the sharpest tools in the shed either and have probably been awake for the last 58 hours high on meth and you have a pretty good chance of a 15 car pile up. Probably right when the slope goes back downhill right after the tunnel eastbound.

Regarding wind, yeah, sometimes they close it just for wind. Trucks could get blown over and stuff.

[Name Redacted]

FWIW, in the last two days I have seen five illegal U turns, four of which almost caused accidents, and one that did. People are fucking idiots.

[smmokan]

Enforce the rules/laws and all kinds of societal problems would go away. Stupid people should be held accountable for their decisions.

Now you're just being silly. This is America, no one is responsible for their own actions, it's always someone else's fault.

[goldengatestinx]

I would run for office but I'd have to cut my hair and beard to get anywhere and I'm way too politically incorrect to have any kind of success in these days of hurt feelings.

Why not use the available tools to reduce the issues that occur? Enforce the laws. It won't eliminate them but will go a very long way towards keeping the highway open.

[doebedoe]

The problem is that it isn't "simple" to enforce the rules/laws pro-actively. Which is why the only do it re-actively (in case of an accident etc.)

A pro-active check-station solution for all vehicles traveling/entering between Denver and Glenwood Canyon would massively screw traffic forever.

Maybe some sort of transponder system that must be installed to travel when bad whether is expected -- and your vehicle has to pass every October?

Either one you're talking huge amounts of manpower. And no one in CO wants to pay for that shit.

[fastfred]

Painful. Silverthorne is a parking lot. Lots of agro drivers being ducks. Took over a half hr to get from the north side of town to the west bound I 70 ramp.

I'm the biggest ass out there but I know when to chill out. People suck some times.

Hopefully lots of hotties hanging out at whole foods. Make for a nice lunch. Salad and yoga pants

[tss4420]

Westbound is crawling from Silverplum with hazmat closures at the tunnel due to Loveland being closed.

[summit]

Maybe some sort of transponder system that must be installed to travel when bad whether is expected -- and your vehicle has to pass every October?

Either one you're talking huge amounts of manpower. And no one in CO wants to pay for that shit.

Yes... way too hard... wait... how come 17 other states have mandatory annual vehicle safety inspections?

How does Denver and other cities/states manage to maintain a mandatory yearly emissions test?

How does it work in other countries that require winter tires?

I'm starting to understand stfu's disdain for the apparent "it's imposssible!" attitude in this state...

[zartagen]

What. The. Fuck. Is happening? Vail frontage roads are now parking lots bc people who can't get on 70 just stop where they are. They must be holding people from going eastbound to summit, but JFC, go wait somewhere else.

And nothing on cotrip. What a worthless POS.

[doebedoe]

Yes... way too hard... wait... how come 17 other states have mandatory annual vehicle safety inspections?

How does Denver and other cities/states manage to maintain a mandatory yearly emissions test?

How does it work in other countries that require winter tires?

I'm starting to understand stfu's disdain for the apparent "it's imposssible!" attitude in this state...

I'm not saying its impossible. It is clearly possible. But every one of those things requires significant funding to preemptively enforce. Where's that money going to come from? It's not as if CDOT has a burgeoning budget and nothing to do with it except make our ski travel easier. I'm happy to pay additional taxes and fees but I do not represent the general population.

Are you going to require every vehicle to be winter ready? If not, what sort of system do you have in place to monitor which vehicles should be on the road at each time.

[uglymoney]

The problem is that it isn't "simple" to enforce the rules/laws pro-actively. Which is why the only do it re-actively (in case of an accident etc.)

A pro-active check-station solution for all vehicles traveling/entering between Denver and Glenwood Canyon would massively screw traffic forever.

Maybe some sort of transponder system that must be installed to travel when bad whether is expected -- and your vehicle has to pass every October?

Either one you're talking huge amounts of manpower. And no one in CO wants to pay for that shit.

If you had a check station that actually issued tickets you don't have to stop everyone. Same principle works at weigh station for commercial trucks. A couple of $250 fines and people would begin to realize how affordable snow tires are even before the fines.

From my unrealistic perspective as the occasional Colorado weekender anything that would put some pressure on the rental companies to offer some cars with snow tires would be awesome. Such a crapshoot with the tires on those things.

Truth is I mostly avoid the area except for early and late season so I guess the traffic is already keeping this Jerry out.

[ASmileyFace]

Would love to hear from someone stuck in this garbage what's going on since COTrip is showing no closures. Have a friend who was supposed to be meeting me in Denver tonight for dinner around 7. Their phone died sometime during the day and I haven't heard from them since noon. Safe to say this might be one of those 6+ hour trips back from Vail?

Thank fuck I had stuff to do today. I'd kill myself if I had to deal with that nonsense.

[Name Redacted]

From my unrealistic perspective as the occasional Colorado weekender anything that would put some pressure on the rental companies to offer some cars with snow tires would be awesome. Such a crapshoot with the tires on those things.

I have been saying this for a while but I met a guy at a holiday party who pissed in my Cheerios. The rental car companies are constantly shipping cars around the country, rotating them as needed. It's a organizational nightmare. They bring something like 400 cars into the Eagle airport just for the holiday season, then ship them all right back out. Imagine what they do at DIA. And this is what would make it almost impossible for rental cars to all have snow tires on them. It's just not feasible.

I think the only true solution is to blow up the Eisenhower tunnel. I mean, it has had a good run and now it has come to an end. Just blow it up and go back to making everyone drive over Loveland pass. Eventually, people will just stop skiing all together and just stay in Denver and play golf. Perfect!

[goldengatestinx]

I'm not saying its impossible. It is clearly possible. But every one of those things requires significant funding to preemptively enforce. Where's that money going to come from? It's not as if CDOT has a burgeoning budget and nothing to do with it except make our ski travel easier. I'm happy to pay additional taxes and fees but I do not represent the general population.

Are you going to require every vehicle to be winter ready? If not, what sort of system do you have in place to monitor which vehicles should be on the road at each time.

A cop or two walking through the cars that are stopped in Vail, Silverthorne, at the hazmat hold at the tunnels....with a thick ass ticket book. No snow rated tires! Cha-ching! Maybe even a credit card reader. Simple. Cost effective. And a great deterrent.

Don't say it can't be done. It's perfectly legal and can be started like in 20 minutes. Now to find a politician, captain or other official with actual balls to say do it. We all know CDOT won't since they can't even keep a few cameras in operation.

And get the useless media to report it.

[doebedoe]

Oh, so we're talking about a deterrence strategy and not a comprehensive check to make sure people don't fuck up the roads. Yep -- that's a lot cheaper.

I wonder what portion the I70 idiots though drive it often enough for regular ticketing in stopped traffic to be an effective strategy. I doubt it'd too much for Joe the Occasional Skier in Denver or tourists.

[goldengatestinx]

It would make big news. And state wide or national news is a free deterrent.

And it would work and is almost free and easily implemented. Not perfect, but then nothing is. Something needs to change. Doing nothing won't change anything as we've seen on the national level. Hickenlooper hasn't done much but sign laws. It's time the executive branch actually perform their sworn duty and enforce the laws they've signed into being.

[smmokan]

They could start with the trucks... that would make a huge impact by itself, and the fines could/should be much larger.

[iceclimb]

What a pain..... 15 car pileup and we passed about 5 trucks skidding all over with no chains.

[uglymoney]

I have been saying this for a while but I met a guy at a holiday party who pissed in my Cheerios. The rental car companies are constantly shipping cars around the country, rotating them as needed. It's a organizational nightmare. They bring something like 400 cars into the Eagle airport just for the holiday season, then ship them all right back out. Imagine what they do at DIA. And this is what would make it almost impossible for rental cars to all have snow tires on them. It's just not feasible.

Yep that is true. My old man is retired and now works at our Hertz airport location part time as a transporter. The amount of cars his posse of coffee drinking seniors move around is mind blowing. Somehow it qualifies me for teh Hertz gold plus discount which kicks ass.

I remember going to Revy all the local cars had snows because highway travel required them. You can drive around town all you want on all seasons. Everyone had snows. Utopia eh?

[goldengatestinx]

And two dumb fucks in one photo driving white vehicles in a snowstorm with no lights. SLAP!

[Muggydude]

Google maps is relatively accurate with traffic and closures

[bean]

And nothing on cotrip. What a worthless POS.

Just a week ago the CDOT executive director was commenting on how cotrip used to be the place to go for road information and that it's now useless. I'm cautiously optimistic that will get sorted out...though clearly nobody cared enough to fix the problem for the peak holiday travel week.

Google maps is relatively accurate with traffic and closures

Gmaps is just about the only worthwhile source for traffic conditions and it responds pretty quickly these days.

[goldengatestinx]

Outside of government an exec director would make fixing the highest visible product of their organization a priority. Colorado simply says oh well. Hickenlooper? Maybe do something and force them to fix it?

[Garth Bimble]

A buddy just missed out on the fun but he got this pic: