Why I Love Highway 70

[FireOnTheMountain]

I like the music theme going on here so some Zevon would only be appropriate. Unfortunately he does not address the thread subject in this one.

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

I love 70 because of the views and the fact that it’s not 55/80/90/94 around Chicago. Those roads are slow enough that I’ve had people come up and try to wash my windows on the highway. It was routinely slower than my cycling pace. One time I had to drive from Valparaiso to midway airport. 45 miles and it took 3 and a half hours when weather wasn’t a factor.

That being said, I live around the springs so normally take 24 to go up into the mountains.

[peter303]

I-70 is now seeing congestion in the same places and times on weekdays as it used to see only on weekends a decade ago. Part of this is due there are always construction/repair projects, generally active just on weekdays.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

I love I-70 because it was initially supposed to end in Denver, but the efforts of Gov. Edwin C. Johnson, after whom the eastbound bore of the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels was named, helped convince the federal government that Denverites needed a more efficient way to go west than the combination of old U.S. highways (take 40 from I-70 to the Utah state line. Now imagine having to do that every time you wanted to go anywhere in the mountains or west of) and driving north to I-80 or south to I-40.

Yeah, it gets crowded. That's understandable - the population is growing, and given how Herculean a task it is to build any road through the Colorado Rockies, much less an interstate highway, it's likely to be all we get until there are some major breakthroughs in transit building. But it's better than nothing!

[bergsteigen]

Since I changed my work schedule, I quite enjoy I-70! Minus the left lane lingering, I can get where I need to in an appropriate amount of time. Having a fun/powerful vehicle also makes it enjoyable too (and thwarts the evil LLL)

If you do what everyone else does, then you’re going to have a bad time. A general rule to life I’ve found quite true.

[jmanner]

Sorry I am late to the I-70 lovein. I love that it allows me to get an amazing workout skiing, running and hiking in beautiful terrain in an hour, or less, from my house and be home with my wife and kids well before lunch. I love that at 4 or 5 in the morning, regardless of time of year, I can zone out and listen to the BBC or NPR, while I have the highway essentially to myself. I love the engineering achievement of being able to drive 70( I meant 65 mph) at 7,000-11,000 feet.

I’d love a train more though.

[TallGrass]

it’s not 55/80/90/94 around Chicago. ... people come up and try to wash my windows on the highway. ... 45 miles and it took 3 and a half hours ...

At almost 13mph avg, I'll explore side roads. They should allow lane splitting. For those complaining about I-70, there's always US-285, 24, 40, 6, ...

[peter303]

Now imagine having to do that every time you wanted to go anywhere in the mountains or west of) and driving north to I-80 or south to I-40

The 19th stage coaches from Denver to the mining towns like Breckenridge and Leadville went near 285 through Fairplay instead of crossing the Gore range.

Many of the ski towns were established by WWII veterans BEFORE the tunnel was opened in the late 1960s. I suppose you had to had go over Loveland Pass or some other way.

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

it’s not 55/80/90/94 around Chicago. ... people come up and try to wash my windows on the highway. ... 45 miles and it took 3 and a half hours ...

At almost 13mph avg, I'll explore side roads. They should allow lane splitting. For those complaining about I-70, there's always US-285, 24, 40, 6, ...

I agree with you there in most cases. But going through Gary and south Chicago is unpleasant. Thankfully I live in Colorado and don’t deal with that anymore.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

The 19th stage coaches from Denver to the mining towns like Breckenridge and Leadville went near 285 through Fairplay instead of crossing the Gore range.

Indeed, and to be honest, I've never been able to find a good answer as to why I-70 didn't take a similar route...Vail wasn't much of anything until after the highway's construction, so why wouldn't they try to route it at least through Leadville, an established mountain hub? Was it really that much more challenging to upgrade the roads over 91 and 24 over Fremont and Tennessee Passes than it was to do the same to 6 over Vail Pass? I know there's so much else out there to be bothered by, but this one has baffled me for years.

Many of the ski towns were established by WWII veterans BEFORE the tunnel was opened in the late 1960s. I suppose you had to had go over Loveland Pass or some other way.

Yep, Loveland Pass used to be THE way to go, and in fact, I think I remember reading that eastbound traffic got shunted that way while the Johnson ***half*** of the tunnel was still under construction. That stretch of road makes me cry even when there's no snow on it, so I imagine my skiing would be limited to, well, Loveland if I-70 and its massive tunnels through the Divide didn't exist!

(Edited to include a word that makes the affected sentence as family-friendly as I initially intended, then edited to include the explanation.)

[TravelingMatt]

Indeed, and to be honest, I've never been able to find a good answer as to why I-70 didn't take a similar route...Vail wasn't much of anything until after the highway's construction, so why wouldn't they try to route it at least through Leadville, an established mountain hub? Was it really that much more challenging to upgrade the roads over 91 and 24 over Fremont and Tennessee Passes than it was to do the same to 6 over Vail Pass? I know there's so much else out there to be bothered by, but this one has baffled me for years.

Routing it through Gilman Canyon (the route 24 takes between Red Cliff and its terminus in Minturn) would have been problematic.

I understand there were plans to punch it straight through the Gores with another tunnel under Red Buffalo Pass, instead of having it dip at Copper Mountain. I guess the Gore got preserved at the expense of everyone using an extra half gallon or so of gas.

I've thought of how else 70 could've been routed myself, and wonder whether going over/under Hagerman Pass and hooking up with the Roaring Fork valley, thus also bypassing Glenwood Canyon, would've been possible.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

Routing it through Gilman Canyon (the route 24 takes between Red Cliff and its terminus in Minturn) would have been problematic.

I guess I'll have to drive that route sometime when it's not either pitch-black (yaaaaayyyy butt o'clock a.m. start for Holy Cross!) or under such heavy snow that Vail Pass is closed but it, somehow, is not to see if I can figure out how it would've been a pain to engineer. Y'know, with my not-even-close-to-engineering background and all. :p

I understand there were plans to punch it straight through the Gores with another tunnel under Red Buffalo Pass, instead of having it dip at Copper Mountain. I guess the Gore got preserved at the expense of everyone using an extra half gallon or so of gas.

With my, again, totally-not-engineering background, I wonder what the difference in the environmental impact would have been for another tunnel vs. all the exhaust from all those cars and, especially, trucks heaving over Vail Pass? Sure seems like it would've been easier to keep the road open when conditions get hairy...

I've thought of how else 70 could've been routed myself, and wonder whether going over/under Hagerman Pass and hooking up with the Roaring Fork valley, thus also bypassing Glenwood Canyon, would've been possible

I remember reading that extensive surveys were conducted before that last piece went into place, and for reasons that I definitely did not read because I would've remembered them if I had, the engineering team concluded that Glenwood Canyon was the only viable option. I know they have to route interstate highways so that they can accommodate eighteen-wheelers and other long trailers, and Hagerman's neighbor Independence Pass bans vehicles over 35', so maybe there's something about the size or steepness of the Sawatches that confounds interstate highways? Gotta be something horrifying from an engineering perspective if Glenwood Canyon looks like your best/only option!