I 70 sucks

[Kneale Brownson]

I have virtually no recollection of the lodging or skiing at A-B that trip. I think I made a couple runs and then headed to my original destination, which was Vail. But I will never forget coming down from the top of Loveland!!

 

[Doug Briggs]

New I-70 study shows congestion is leading some skiers to make fewer trips to the High Country

Well, duh!

 

[Ken_R]

New I-70 study shows congestion is leading some skiers to make fewer trips to the High Country

Well, duh!

 

[Mike King]

New I-70 study shows congestion is leading some skiers to make fewer trips to the High Country

Well, duh!

Yeah, it is obvious, but unless you have numbers...

 

[jmeb]

Yeah, it is obvious, but unless you have numbers...

The amount of money I help spend proving the obvious just to make legislators happy would make taxpayers heads spin.

 

[Tricia]

New I-70 study shows congestion is leading some skiers to make fewer trips to the High Country

Well, duh!

Nobody goes there anymore because its too busy

 

[Ken_R]

Nobody goes there anymore because its too busy

I see what you did there

 

[mikel]

And the new west bound express lane construction started today … yea … oh boy … what a game saver.

 

[nay]

And the new west bound express lane construction started today … yea … oh boy … what a game saver.

From the top of Floyd Hill?

 

[Doug Briggs]

From the top of Floyd Hill?

CDOT breaks ground on westbound I-70 mountain express lane, which will widen interstate for 13 miles

13-mile spread between the Veterans Memorial Tunnels and Empire Junction, one of the more congestion-heavy stretches of the interstate.

I don't think there is enough space at the bottom of Floyd Hill without MAJOR rebuilding. It is only two lanes around that chicane.

 

[skix]

I don't think there is enough space at the bottom of Floyd Hill without MAJOR rebuilding. It is only two lanes around that chicane.

They plan to handle it with a tunnel for westbound at the bottom of the hill to avoid the hard left and following curves.

https://www.codot.gov/news/2018/may...westbound-i-70-mountain-corridor-improvements

The new westbound I-70 alignment would be placed in a tunnel at the bottom of Floyd Hill to reduce weather impacts and improve driver safety. During construction, the westbound alignment can be built adjacent to existing traffic lanes—limiting impacts to the traveling public.
​

Check out this virtual drive through the new section:

 

[Doug Briggs]

They plan to handle it with a tunnel for westbound at the bottom of the hill to avoid the hard left and following curves.

https://www.codot.gov/news/2018/may...westbound-i-70-mountain-corridor-improvements

The new westbound I-70 alignment would be placed in a tunnel at the bottom of Floyd Hill to reduce weather impacts and improve driver safety. During construction, the westbound alignment can be built adjacent to existing traffic lanes—limiting impacts to the traveling public.
​

Check out this virtual drive through the new section:

That'll be great, but isn't Floyd Hill east of Veteran's Memorial Tunnels? Which is to say the new tunnel isn't part of the just started project.

 

[Ross Biff]

They plan to handle it with a tunnel for westbound at the bottom of the hill to avoid the hard left and following curves.

https://www.codot.gov/news/2018/may...westbound-i-70-mountain-corridor-improvements

The new westbound I-70 alignment would be placed in a tunnel at the bottom of Floyd Hill to reduce weather impacts and improve driver safety. During construction, the westbound alignment can be built adjacent to existing traffic lanes—limiting impacts to the traveling public.
​

Check out this virtual drive through the new section:

Looks like the virtual driver is all over the road to more accurately represent real world conditions!

 

[Don in Morrison]

Where're they getting the space for the third downhill westbound lane on Floyd Hill? Shave another lane off the right side of the uphill lanes? Right now there's one bottleneck at the top of Floyd Hill where three lanes squish down to two and another at the bottom where U.S. 6 stuffs itself into I-70

 

[tball]

Where're they getting the space for the third downhill westbound lane on Floyd Hill? Shave another lane off the right side of the uphill lanes? Right now there's one bottleneck at the top of Floyd Hill where three lanes squish down to two and another at the bottom where U.S. 6 stuffs itself into I-70

It will be elevated ala Glenwood Canyon. Watch the video above to the end and see the cool levitation trick:

Pretty neat what you can build for a mere $500M!
https://coloradosun.com/2019/07/10/interstate-70-westbound-toll-lane-colorado/

Edit: Note that this isn't what is being built starting now. The Floyd Hill fix is still a very expensive, unfunded solution to a tough problem. Seems like a great solution. Now, where's the money coming from?

 

[Ken_R]

So the new Tunnel is westbound right at the US 6 intersection. So three lanes all the way through past the quarry and the new tunnel. Nice.

 

[tball]

What's also fantastic is the design continues US-6 (Clear Creek Canyon) separated from I-70 to the Central City exit.

What could go wrong? It's amazing they can keep mountain roads open in the context of the issue with the recently built U-36 that opened up Friday:

 

[tball]

Anyone else remember when two trains hit head-on underneath US-36 at that same spot:
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/when-colorado-lost-a-major-overpass/427366033

We were drinking 3.2 in a friends backyard 5 miles away. We thought Rock Flats blew and we were going to be radioactive toast from the size of the boom and shaking of the windows.

 

[Monique]

What's also fantastic is the design continues US-6 (Clear Creek Canyon) separated from I-70 to the Central City exit.

What could go wrong? It's amazing they can keep mountain roads open in the context of the issue with the recently built U-36 that opened up Friday:

Exactly what I've been thinking. A co-worker attributed the issue to bentonite in the soil + insufficient prep / drainage when building the roads.

 

[Mike King]

Yeah, umh, they don't have the money for the Floyd Hill proposal, which is anticipated to cost $500 million...

https://coloradosun.com/2019/07/10/interstate-70-westbound-toll-lane-colorado/