OFFICIAL I70 BITCH THREAD....

[skaredshtles]

What can I say, national park campgrounds are super secret locales.
I'll keep the backwoods camp sites on a "need to know" basis.

Well, National Park campgrounds that have available campsites over the 4th of July... they USED to be a secret. Nice job, Nimrod.

[hatchgreenchile]

Guilty as charged. That place isn't hip enough for most ColoRadBros anyway.
80% of people will always be in 20% of the places...

[The SnowShow]

Guilty as charged. That place isn't hip enough for most ColoRadBros anyway.
80% of people will always be in 20% of the places...

Seriously. 80% people go to RMNP, walk up to Bear Lake, then leave. Then a few go up on a "crazy" hike to Dream or Emerald. Lmfao.

[doebedoe]

Well, National Park campgrounds that have available campsites over the 4th of July... they USED to be a secret. Nice job, Nimrod.

Yep. Everyone I know jumps onto TGR to find campsites.

[Kevo]

Kevo couldn't find a traffic free commute if it fell out of the sky, landed on his face and started to wiggle.

This is true.

[hawkgt]

front range collective thoughts on the 70 expansion? Need to do something, its falling down regardless of position. It is a shit show of a section. Is this NIMBY or legit concerns? Seems like a decent solution for the area but Im not a civil Eng.

https://www.codot.gov/projects/i70ea...t-construction
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/17...vism-lawsuits/

[adrenalated]

NIMBY at it's finest IMO. I-70 needs to be expanded, without a doubt.

My only real complaint is that they're not expanding I-270 first. That highway is also in desperate need of expansion and would be a considerably easier and cheaper project, and having it expanded would help ease the congestion caused by the I-70 project construction

[doebedoe]

As someone who isn't immediately effected, but will likely be effected in about 10 years time when they have created a new bottleneck from I25 west to Arvada -- I'd say its a mix of NIMBYism and legit concerns.

Something needs to be done about the infastructure. Whether this is the right way to do it or not I think is a different question. The neighborhoods who will be hurt most by this are the same ones who have been fucked by people ramming interstates and undesirable land-uses through their neighborhoods for decades. So these people are being a bit NIMBY, but maybe they have the right to be? We're continuing to tell poorer neighborhoods to fuck off and bear the brunt so people in far out suburbs can have a quicker commute to downtown.

The funding for the project is shady as shit. They're using a massive stormwater fee increase to pay for this. That is the same as levying a new tax but without having to ask permission of taxpayers.

I would've preferred to see a solution which reroutes I70 through traffic to the I76 corridor where far less homes will be effected, and land is significantly cheaper to expand the highway. And to see 70 rebuilt as a slower speed, but still freeway, for local traffic.

[adrenalated]

Here is the official analysis explaining why that option was eliminated: http://www.i-70east.com/ROD/I-70East...eroute-Alt.pdf

My take, from traveling through the I-70 and I-270 corridors every day, is that BOTH of them are needed to support both mobility through the greater metro and to support the business infrastructure along both highways, and that both are currently greatly over capacity.

[bean]

My take, from traveling through the I-70 and I-270 corridors every day, is that BOTH of them are needed to support both mobility through the greater metro and to support the business infrastructure along both highways, and that both are currently greatly over capacity.

Yup. It blows my mind that they didn't do a 76/270 expansion over the past several years when developing the plan for 70. 270 is already a parking lot (1:30pm on a Wednesday and it's currently jammed up both ways with no crashes), it's going to be total system failure once I-70 construction starts.

And the neighborhoods adjacent to the project will be improved by it, the NIMBYs aren't even making sense in this case, unless they like living in the shadow of a failing elevated highway.

The funding for the project is shady as shit. They're using a massive stormwater fee increase to pay for this. That is the same as levying a new tax but without having to ask permission of taxpayers.

Are you referring to the P2P drainage project, which is related but not the same? And stormwater agencies increasing "fees" to get around TABOR is nothing new. One of them failed to get a ballot initiative passed last year and sent out a letter saying they were increasing "fees" by more than what the ballot initiative asked for, because they needed the money so deal with it.

[adrenalated]

Yup. It blows my mind that they didn't do a 76/270 expansion over the past several years when developing the plan for 70. 270 is already a parking lot (1:30pm on a Wednesday and it's currently jammed up both ways with no crashes), it's going to be total system failure once I-70 construction starts.

270 is a parking lot in at least one direction from about 6am to 8pm, 7 days a week. Even the fucking weekends and holidays are a shitshow on that hwy.

And the neighborhoods adjacent to the project will be improved by it, the NIMBYs aren't even making sense in this case, unless they like living in the shadow of a failing elevated highway.

In all fairness, it's harder to sell meth under the bridge when there's no bridge.

[hawkgt]

good points on 270. I gave up on driving that shitty road/blocked with traffic years ago.

[Soups]

And the neighborhoods adjacent to the project will be improved by it, the NIMBYs aren't even making sense in this case, unless they like living in the shadow of a failing elevated highway

Yep never understood that either. That area north of 70 is such a shithole because it's so cut off from the rest of the city due to the viaduct. Unless they're worried about gentrification, which is already sort of on its way.

[doebedoe]

Yep never understood that either. That area north of 70 is such a shithole because it's so cut off from the rest of the city due to the viaduct. Unless they're worried about gentrification, which is already sort of on its way.

They're worried about large-scale replacement of their neighborhood by developers.

Agree the neighborhoods will get more expensive and "nicer." But the neighborhoods that lower-income people built there will be gone. That is what they are fighting about.

[adrenalated]

They're worried about large-scale replacement of their neighborhood by developers.

Agree the neighborhoods will get more expensive and "nicer." But the neighborhoods that lower-income people built there will be gone. That is what they are fighting about.

This isn't solved by where the highway goes, this is solved by city development policies.

Good story by CPR about this exact problem in my hood, which faces similar challenges.
https://www.cpr.org/news/story/as-ea...-neck-and-neck

[doebedoe]

I would argue that where the highway goes, and what the design looks like are crucial elements of the city development policies. Folks in said neighborhoods are rightly skeptical given the history of what such redevelopment projects have done around the country to similar neighborhoods. Not saying it can't be done with some respect to the local community -- but that historically it hasn't.

Nice article. My personal view is BRT and I70 are projects with impacts that are orders of magnitude different even if the issues are similar.

[hatchgreenchile]

That neighborhood sure loves to blame i70 for their problems , but the Purina and Suncor stank can't be ignored

[Name Redacted]

Smells like weed now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[skaredshtles]

Smells like weed now.

Which, to be honest, is way better than dog chow *or* chemical stank.

[hawkgt]

why cant we use some of the pot tax $$$ for roads? "Pot Heads for Potholes!"

[Name Redacted]

Which, to be honest, is way better than dog chow *or* chemical stank.

Yep. Now if they just put weed IN the dog food, they'd be onto something.

[WTF is dat]

As someone who isn't immediately effected, but will likely be effected in about 10 years time when they have created a new bottleneck from I25 west to Arvada -- I'd say its a mix of NIMBYism and legit concerns.

Something needs to be done about the infastructure. Whether this is the right way to do it or not I think is a different question. The neighborhoods who will be hurt most by this are the same ones who have been fucked by people ramming interstates and undesirable land-uses through their neighborhoods for decades. So these people are being a bit NIMBY, but maybe they have the right to be? We're continuing to tell poorer neighborhoods to fuck off and bear the brunt so people in far out suburbs can have a quicker commute to downtown.

The funding for the project is shady as shit. They're using a massive stormwater fee increase to pay for this. That is the same as levying a new tax but without having to ask permission of taxpayers.

I would've preferred to see a solution which reroutes I70 through traffic to the I76 corridor where far less homes will be effected, and land is significantly cheaper to expand the highway. And to see 70 rebuilt as a slower speed, but still freeway, for local traffic.

The complaints about this project are pure NIMBYism.

The 270/76 reroute was considered, but never seriously because it is utterly ridiculous. It would cost well over 3 billion dollars, for starters. And the exact same issues would be present - 270/76 could not magically handle all of the extra I70 traffic, even if they were expanded. Asking the freight and tourism industries to be happy with a 25 minute (minimum) unnecessary detour is insane.

The neighborhood will not be fucked by this project. The neighborhood will be (arguably) improved. Normally, below grade freeways are preferred by the neighborhoods because the sound of the freeway is reduced and in the case of the I-70 expansion "caps" can be put over the freeway to connect the neighborhood by parks / green belts.

CDOT's and Denver's drainage projects are totally separate issues. However, they did find they could be mutually beneficial and an IGA was executed. It is not a conspiracy, and it does not make the funding for the project shady.

In any case, the sky is not falling and the sunken freeway will definitely be better than what is there today. The drainage / greenway project is a valid effort and will be good for the neighborhood in many different ways.

[The SnowShow]

I have one thing to say to motorists everywhere: GET THE FUCK OFF YOUR PHONES!!

[wkd-rdr]

Friday afternoon shitshow still in full effect at 1030pm.
EB 70 closed, everyone going over LL pass. Backups for days.
Good day to head to Denver

[montanaskier]

I don't do the 70 drive back and forth to the city for work anymore, instead driving to places like GJ, Montrose, Steamboat, Gunny, Durango, etc....But had been in Pueblo on Thursday and was driving home Friday morning and was reminded how bad it is. The amount of people just cruising in the left lane, oblivious to the fact they are doing anything wrong, is amazing.