I 70 sucks

[coskigirl]

Not to mention the loss of a lane at the top of Floyd Hill and US 6 joining in at the bottom. There are a lot of reasons that contribute to the frequent slow down.

Both of those issues will also be addressed on some level during this project.

 

[Prosper]

Yesterday I think all day long the tunnel eastbound was being metered. This caused a back up on south bound US 9 (Blue River Parkway) through all of Silverthorne and probably close to Blue River Campground (8 miles). It looked like it took up to an hour and a half to get from Silverthorne to the tunnel. When I went at around 8pm it took about 45 minutes. Yes Loveland Pass was closed so hazmat was being guided through the tunnel at the top of every hour (probably takes 6-7 minutes). After tunnel it was completely open and drive as fast as you like minus the 1st 10 or so miles east of the tunnel which were thinly snow packed. I don’t understand why metering at the tunnel is done when it is completely open after the tunnel. Can someone with tunnel operation knowledge explain this?

 

[Don in Morrison]

Berthoud pass traffic being re-routed thru Kremmling and Silverthorne

 

[Bozzenhagen]

They should like $5K per incident without winter tires per vehicle. With interest. People will have no choice but to pony up for winter tires then. No all terrain with M+S, but actual full on nordic winter tires or whatever. It will solve a lot of issues.

 

[COSkier87]

I have some longtime friends that want to get together to go to Copper tomorrow morning from Denver. Given how bad I-70s been these past few days, plus the snow and wind tonight, I think I might sit this one out.

 

[Ken_R]

They should like $5K per incident without winter tires per vehicle. With interest. People will have no choice but to pony up for winter tires then. No all terrain with M+S, but actual full on nordic winter tires or whatever. It will solve a lot of issues.

Honestly at high elevations Winter Tires should be just about mandatory. The big issue is the rental car business. None put winter tires on their vehicles and understandably so.

 

[Ken_R]

I have some longtime friends that want to get together to go to Copper tomorrow morning from Denver. Given how bad I-70s been these past few days, plus the snow and wind tonight, I think I might sit this one out.

Forgetaboutit unless you have a capable vehicle with winter tires and left already from Denver. 4~5am the latest.

 

[Bozzenhagen]

Yeah. The rental car business sucks. I was so paranoid on rentals when my car broke down years ago. They normalized shit all-season tires with barely any tread. I had to ask for another vehicle; the rep lied to me about 4x4 and got me a 2wd RAM.

Turo seems better, but you have to ask the owner whether by "snow tires", they mean all-seasons, all-seasons with chains, snow tires, etc....

I asked a friend recently about my suspicion; yep, most locals in Summit do not have winter tires. They could drink less alcohol and do less drugs to afford a necessity, but you know, Scummit County standards.

 

[mikel]

@COSkier87 you can read any number of articles on I70 in the Summit Daily from today thru last weekend.

Colorado’s I-70 became a ‘parking lot of traffic’ as winter storm coincided with holiday weekend

The stretch of Interstate 70 that passes through the Colorado Rocky Mountains is notorious for heavy traffic as skiers head to and from the state’s world-class ski resorts each weekend during the winter season. But when...

www.summitdaily.com

There is a winter storm warning now and it is snowing. Even if you have snow tires doesn’t mean everyone else does and that front wheel drive mini van with all seasons can ruin your day. CDOT has also put out the construction warning but I’m not sure how much they are doing.

I know I had never seen or heard of manual metering west bound in Georgetown before. You might make it in 2 hrs or maybe 3-5. Timing is a roll of the dice and so is Officers Gulch

 

[Andy Mink]

Does CDOT check tires before or only after the crash? On 80 in CA if there are chains or 4x4 with snows you aren't going without. I do believe the mountain snowflake counts but at least they check. Whether it helps when stuff gets nasty is debatable.

 

[goaliedad]

(insert "man shakes fist at cloud" GIF here)

 

[dbostedo]

Does CDOT check tires before or only after the crash? On 80 in CA if there are chains or 4x4 with snows you aren't going without. I do believe the mountain snowflake counts but at least they check. Whether it helps when stuff gets nasty is debatable.

I've never seen or heard of a tire check like they do in CA. Granted, I'm not local, but have been driving I-70 for a few storms, and there's no check or enforcement of the tire laws. Maybe someone local knows otherwise/better.

 

[Andy Mink]

I've never seen or heard of a tire check like they do in CA. Granted, I'm not local, but have been driving I-70 for a few storms, and there's no check or enforcement of the tire laws. Maybe someone local knows otherwise/better.

If you're going to have rules they have to be enforced. That seems to be one of the problems in the Canyons.

 

[Noodler]

Does CDOT check tires before or only after the crash? On 80 in CA if there are chains or 4x4 with snows you aren't going without. I do believe the mountain snowflake counts but at least they check. Whether it helps when stuff gets nasty is debatable.

Unfortunately it is only after the traffic incident. Totally ridiculous. The law is supposed to encourage people to be safe, but we all know what happens when it's really not enforced properly.

 

[Ken_R]

Unfortunately it is only after the traffic incident. Totally ridiculous. The law is supposed to encourage people to be safe, but we all know what happens when it's really not enforced properly.

Exactly and most peole are clueless. Most tourists just book their trip, rent a car and then drive up. No more thought. They paid for their vacation so they are entitled to get there. Nobody really informs them of the possible dangers. Rental car companies dont care. The resorts dont care.

But thats just one component. You add some clueless locals on top of the sometimes aggresive and under pressure commercial traffic and you got the mess that is i70.

That said I have seen much more local vehicles with winter tires recently. I have to admit I am responsible for a few of those. Advocacy helps! Cheap insurance!

 

[doc]

I can remember, sometime during the 70s, the CSP would have a checkpoint near Silverthorne/Frisco where several patrolmen would check each car's tires by flashlight before allowing the car to proceed on EB I70. While an annoyance, it likely ended up saving time by reducing the number of summer tire club accidents/slide offs. Haven't seen that done in a long while.
I'm with @Bozzenhagen on the fines for inadequate winter tires, although I'd tweak it by fining offenders the rough equivalent of the cost of 4 new snows, with a refund or rebate available upon presentation of a receipt confirming the purchase and installation of snow tires.

 

[Bozzenhagen]

A friend of mine just got winter tires. They didn't seem to think it helped much other than stopping on a suddenly not seen stop sign downhill. This tells me they were confusing 4x4 traction uphill with overall traction. And they truly were never driving fast enough to detect the loss of overall grip in various winter conditions.

In today's shitshow, I was half asleep, tired out of my mind. I was doing the speed limit on hwy 9 this morning. I could have easily taken it 10-20mph faster if I was actually awake and willing. I would NEVER try that with tires like the CrossClimate 2 (all-weathers); those are my "summer" tires. I'm too much of a p***y and am highly risk adverse.

It irks me a county full of "snowsports athletes" and "outdoorsmen" drive so f****** slow in their $40K+ outdoor rigs. They're supposed to drive faster. They got the coordination and risk tolerance.

 

[Rich McP]

A friend of mine just got winter tires. They didn't seem to think it helped much other than stopping on a suddenly not seen stop sign downhill. This tells me they were confusing 4x4 traction uphill with overall traction. And they truly were never driving fast enough to detect the loss of overall grip in various winter conditions.

In today's shitshow, I was half asleep, tired out of my mind. I was doing the speed limit on hwy 9 this morning. I could have easily taken it 10-20mph faster if I was actually awake and willing. I would NEVER try that with tires like the CrossClimate 2 (all-weathers); those are my "summer" tires. I'm too much of a p***y and am highly risk adverse.

It irks me a county full of "snowsports athletes" and "outdoorsmen" drive so f****** slow in their $40K+ outdoor rigs. They're supposed to drive faster. They got the coordination and risk tolerance.

It doesn't sound like you've been out driving too much the last week or ten days. It has been slick as deer guts on a door knob out there.

 

[COSkier87]

I have some longtime friends that want to get together to go to Copper tomorrow morning from Denver. Given how bad I-70s been these past few days, plus the snow and wind tonight, I think I might sit this one out.

Glad I didn't bail, Copper was amazing today

Westbound: Traffic slowed a little at tunnel and going into Silverthorne. Left at 6am, 1h40min from Westminster to Copper.

Eastbound: Only snow I saw on the highway was from Copper to Frisco, roads were clear going to the tunnel and all the way to Denver. 1h30min from Copper to Westminster.

 

[S.H.]

It doesn't sound like you've been out driving too much the last week or ten days. It has been slick as deer guts on a door knob out there.

I saw a lot of people sliding around but I didn't have grip issues (mostly going between Frisco/Silverthorne/Keystone Fri-Mon)