I 70 sucks

[mdf]

bahahaha

I was in Colorado once for a meeting that I tacked a day at Loveland onto before I came home. Hertz gave me a convertible! Since it was just one day, I demoed skis but I wish I had taken them out to the parking lot for a photo op before returning them.

It was a pretty warm spring day (40's on the hill, 50's away from it), so I had to drive with the top down.
After a few miles I got so cold I had to pull over. So I had a choice -- put my ski gear back on, or put the top up....

 

[Slim]

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/10/29/colorado-traction-law-infrequently-enforced/

I noticed that the stuck vehicle they repeatable show is a Subaru, probably WRX. Great AWD, not a cheap car, they are obviously snowboarders (roofrack), yet they couldn’t pony up the money and effort for some snow tires?

 

[TexasStout]

I noticed that the stuck vehicle they repeatable show is a Subaru, probably WRX. Great AWD, not a cheap car, they are obviously snowboarders (roofrack), yet they couldn’t pony up the money and effort for some snow tires?

Who's got money for stinkin' snow tires when you spent your whole paycheck on a season pass? C'mon! They barely have enough for gas, food, beer and edibles.

 

[Marin]

I heard last year form some locals that plan to built Fast Train that will go Denver -Vail has been approved, but do not know how much that is true, they were saying trip will be 30 to 45 min.
Anyone knows anything about this?

 

[Doug Briggs]

A bus does that run, actually all the way to GJ, but I don't believe any train has been 'approved'. We certainly don't have the budget for it.

We can't keep our existing bridges safe much less begin new transportation projects.

 

[dbostedo]

I heard last year form some locals that plan to built Fast Train that will go Denver -Vail has been approved, but do not know how much that is true, they were saying trip will be 30 to 45 min.
Anyone knows anything about this?

That would be crazy fast... It's 75 miles in a straight line to Vail, assuming there weren't mountains in the way. Almost 100 miles following I-70. Through existing corridors, it would have to average 133 MPH. Averaging that much with any stops at all along the way isn't very do-able, especially factoring in altitude changes necessary and weather. If you said it was going to be 2 hours and 30 minutes to Vail, I might believe it.

Case in point... Winter Park is about an hour and half drive from Denver, and the train takes 2 hours. To get the speeds to be 30-45 minutes, you're talking about an entirely new type of train for the US, in an area where it might be hardest to put one, with money that the state doesn't seem to have.

Of course... the proposal approval could be something like "If you can figure out how to get to Vail in 45 minutes and the project cost is under $100, then sure, it's approved."

 

[Doug Briggs]

Oh, I know what you are talking about. There was that competition for a hyperloop train as a test platform.

Hyperloop Becomes Closer To Reality In Colorado

There is also this:

Colorado Hyperloop Progress in 2019

 

[Mike King]

Maybe Doug, but it also could be the monorail from Denver to Aspen that was rejected in the 2000's.

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/about-that-i-70-monorail-to-vail-colo/
https://www.deseret.com/2001/5/19/19586968/denver-vail-monorail-proposal-faces-uphill-struggle

4+ billion to build and less than $100 million in revenue? Not going to happen...

Mike

 

[TexasStout]

Oh, I know what you are talking about. There was that competition for a hyperloop train as a test platform.
Hyperloop Becomes Closer To Reality In Colorado

There is also this:

Colorado Hyperloop Progress in 2019

Hyperloop would get you from Denver to Vail in nine minutes. That would rock!

 

[Ken_R]

Maybe Doug, but it also could be the monorail from Denver to Aspen that was rejected in the 2000's.

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/about-that-i-70-monorail-to-vail-colo/
https://www.deseret.com/2001/5/19/19586968/denver-vail-monorail-proposal-faces-uphill-struggle

4+ billion to build and less than $100 million in revenue? Not going to happen...

Mike

I think almost every mass transit system in the world looses money.

Fares are generally kept low to encourage ridership. So, fare recovery ratio (for operating expenses) is on average less than 50%. Sometimes as low as 20%.

 

[Marin]

Oh, I know what you are talking about. There was that competition for a hyperloop train as a test platform.

Hyperloop Becomes Closer To Reality In Colorado

There is also this:

Colorado Hyperloop Progress in 2019

I guess that is what I heard last year .
This will be fantastic .
But in future they will have to do something about transportation around Big Cities , USA is very close to Japan traffic and with this going it will just raise more and more , I think people will have to wake up 2 hr early to make it on time to work.

 

[Mike King]

Well, it is often pleasant to dream.

Mike

 

[dbostedo]

But those articles are talking about running it across the plains, which makes infinitely more sense, rather than running it up into the mountains. And as with any complex new technology, particularly one with government and policy issues, it's gotta be 10-15 years away or more. I'd guess Hyperloop, in terms of technology maturity, is where self-driving cars were 10 years ago, and we're still not there yet with those. (Just from what I've read/heard in the past - I'd be happy to be wrong.)

 

[tball]

Building a train has been studied extensively:
https://www.codot.gov/library/studies/study-archives/AGSstudy/final-ags-feasibility-study

What the study found is while technically feasible, a train is not economically viable. This is the conclusions chapter of the study:
https://www.codot.gov/library/studi...chapter-9-conclusions-and-recommendations.pdf

The study estimates a mountain corridor train would require funding along the lines of one of these sources:

• A $0.25 increase in the state gas tax.
  
• A $100 increase in the state vehicle registration fee.
  
• A 1 percent increase in the county sales taxes in the 16 counties along the corridor.
  
• A 1 percent increase in income tax for the 16 counties along the corridor.

None of those funding options are deemed feasible.

And, that's assuming the construction and operational cost estimates are correct. We should probably double those estimates unless we want the final stop to be Luv.

 

[Mike King]

Building a train has been studied extensively:
https://www.codot.gov/library/studies/study-archives/AGSstudy/final-ags-feasibility-study

What the study found is while technically feasible, a train is not economically viable. This is the conclusions chapter of the study:
https://www.codot.gov/library/studi...chapter-9-conclusions-and-recommendations.pdf

The study estimates a mountain corridor train would require funding along the lines of one of these sources:

• A $0.25 increase in the state gas tax.
  
• A $100 increase in the state vehicle registration fee.
  
• A 1 percent increase in the county sales taxes in the 16 counties along the corridor.
  
• A 1 percent increase in income tax for the 16 counties along the corridor.

None of those funding options are deemed feasible.

And, that's assuming the construction and operational cost estimates are correct. We should probably double those estimates unless we want the final stop to be Luv.

Good find @tball. I remember reading that study when it came out. The cost is huge, the technology for the high speed options (maglev, high speed rail) is immature, and the conventional rail option doesn't reduce travel time but in fact increases it. Making a difference on the I70 corridor will require not only prodigious amounts of money, but a lot of vision and willingness to take huge risk. It isn't anything that the current political situation in Colorado can address and, frankly, there are probably other areas in Colorado that should be higher priority.

Mike

 

[Core2]

gondola from loveland pass to denver is the only option

 

[TexasStout]

gondola from loveland pass to denver is the only option

High speed gondola?

 

[Kneale Brownson]

High speed gondola?

Very Scary

 

[Jack skis]

Would it have helped move people and freight (from the front range to the Western Slope) if the Rio Grande RR tracks though the Royal Gorge, up the Arkansas River Valley past Leadville, over Tennessee Pass and down the Eagle River through Minturn to Glenwood Springs weren't abandoned? Sure a possibility lost. Tracks would have been a way to cut down on truck traffic volume on I70. Another try that didn't work out was a pilot tunnel bore from approximately Loveland Valley under Loveland Pass coming out above (?) A Basin. Perhaps bad ground was the reason that tunnel route was given up. Come to think of it was there in addition to the existing tunnels a bottleneck would just have moved elsewhere between the tunnels and Georgetown.

I for one would not like to be Hyperlooped anywhere other than perhaps in and amusement park. And don't try to tell me about the great sightseeing at a zillion miles an hour in a windowless tube.

Anyone remember the person, maybe an elected official, who suggested a tunnel under Vail Pass? Great way to get rid of those pesky mountains.

 

[doc]

Dragging this thread forward 3 pages ....
CDOT saying WB I-70 is closed from Exit 248 to Empire exit for rockfall mitigation work.
EB I-70 set for intermittent closures later today at Dumont for same work.
Don't remember getting rockfall events this time of year in the past; usually in spring during freeze/thaw cycles.
The old punching bag, fossil fuel use, will be blamed for this, no doubt.