Why I Love Highway 70

[highpilgrim]

After all the continuing carping and whining about just how horrible Interstate 70 is, I think it reasonable to point out all the great things about it that are often overlooked.

1) Highway 70 gets me into the mountains, pretty quickly if one is smart enough to travel when everyone else isn't.
2) It gets any unfortunate out of Kansas, no doubt saving the sanity of many.
3) It drives me by the Sleeper House by Charles Deaton. (I've always liked flying saucers since Lost In Space)
4) It proves what a bunch of whiners front rangers are, with so many things to do within 2 hours of their front door. (Spoiled behavior is not good)
5) It keeps some of those lazy whiners at home bitching in Denver, rather than on the peaks.
6) It gives my friends that like to partake time to get good and high before a hike.
7) It takes me through Glenwood Canyon and the great design of the roadway there.
It gets me to Utah in the early spring where it's sunny and warm well before anywhere east.
9) It gets me past Keystone quickly.
10) It proves which assholes can't drive, regardless of how nice a car they have.

Please feel free to add to this list as there are no doubt lots more I've forgotten.

[LURE]

I'm a bitchy front ranger, no doubt about it.

But I will add to the list: I have a a lot of memories and stories - from childhood, with college friends, and my relatively recent period of post-college life - that can all start with "and then we got on I 70". Or great stories that simply took place in the car on I 70.

I'm so bitchy cause if I wanna go snowboarding I spend just as much time driving as I do snowboarding for my so-called "2-hour" drive into paradise. Since college and with a limited PTO life I've essentially given up on the sport. But it's been replaced with other hobbies that still produce wonderful stories that often start with I 70.

[12ersRule]

I-70 is not the problem. We need 2 more I-70s. One from the Springs that bypasses all those BS towns like Woodland Park and Divide that you have to slow to a crawl on.

And one that burrows through next to the train that goes to Winter Park.

I-70 could be a LOT worse too. We front rangers are whiners, expecting to have a hassle free drive at prime time hours like Sunday afternoon, or up to the mountains on Friday night? C'mon!!! Just go at off hours and you'll get where you need to be.

Don't get me started on I-25 though.

[LURE]

Don't get me started on I-25 though.

Don't get me started on it either. You're in Fort Collins yeah? Down in these parts of D-town, my 16 mile commute home from work monday evening took 1.5 hours. No wrecks or nothin. That's how long it takes to drive to cheyenne... 100 miles away...

And people wonder why I bitch about Denver. I can't comprehend why people make a conscious decision to live in this city.

But, as pilgrim is trying to remind people like me, I should be better about counting myself pretty darn lucky to live here. Even if all I can think about is how to flee this place like a bat out of hell while not giving my still very young career the middle finger.

[XterraRob]

Denver traffic congestion is not that bad lol.

[pbakwin]

It provides focus for the Denver crowd so they don’t go to RMNP or IPW.
-Elitist Boulderite

[LURE]

Denver traffic congestion is not that bad lol.

I 25 through Denver is a nationally ranked congestion problem:

https://www.highways.org/wp-content/upl ... hi-res.pdf

Sure we're not LA or DC, but this city has a lagging transportation infrastructure problem that has slowly been festering and is now really starting to show it's colors with the recent population booms. The traffic has gotten pretty darn bad.

[Oman]

Denver traffic congestion is not that bad lol.

When measured against coastal cities with similar economies and housing prices, you are correct!

Why not choose to live close to work and/or schools? Life is too short for daily traffic jams.

The check is in the mail, I'll love you in the morning, and, really, honestly, I have a 15 minute commute.

[12ersRule]

Don't get me started on I-25 though.

Don't get me started on it either. You're in Fort Collins yeah? Down in these parts of D-town, my 16 mile commute home from work monday evening took 1.5 hours. No wrecks or nothin. That's how long it takes to drive to cheyenne... 100 miles away...

And people wonder why I bitch about Denver. I can't comprehend why people make a conscious decision to live in this city.

But, as pilgrim is trying to remind people like me, I should be better about counting myself pretty darn lucky to live here. Even if all I can think about is how to flee this place like a bat out of hell while not giving my still very young career the middle finger.

Yes, I've lived in the Fort for 13 1/2 years. It's funny that I'll be in the mountains during a snowstorm, and even with the steep grades and really slick roads, there are no accidents. Same storm, I saw 10 cars that had run off the road on I-25 between Denver and the Fort --- despite the fact that the roads are in better shape and there are no steep grades.

In recent years, I've been going to North Park and Wyoming a lot more to play. I used to avoid Wyoming like the plague because of the wind, but either my wind tolerance has gone up or it's not as windy there as it used to be.

16 mile commute, huh? Is there a good bike route?

[douglas]

I can't comprehend why people make a conscious decision to live in this city.

Hmm - one of the greatest cities in the country...I can only think of about a thousand reasons to live here. I came here from Atlanta and compared to that traffic here is free flowing.

[highpilgrim]

I just remembered another reason to love 70:

Years back, we got stuck in a horrible traffic jamb coming down from the mountains. HOURS in creeping traffic. I was already bummed I was leaving the hills, and this made it far worse, knowing I had to still drive through Kansasscraphole on the way back home. Then, we made it to the source of the jamb: A truck, driven by someone short of knowledge of what LONG downhills meant, caught his brakes on fire. The fire ignited the truck, which burned. The cool part is that no one was hurt, and wait...here it comes...

The truck was full of cheese which had melted out onto the highway. Lanes covered in gooey yellow cheese. It was glorious driving a car through a cheese slick. How could you possibly stay mad at that point? My kids laughed halfway to the aforementioned craphole.

I just found myself wishing a chip truck could have piled on.

I love 70.

[LURE]

I can't comprehend why people make a conscious decision to live in this city.

Hmm - one of the greatest cities in the country...I can only think of about a thousand reasons to live here. I came here from Atlanta and compared to that traffic here is free flowing.

Awesome city, yes. It's relative, all the reasons people flee the crazy cities to come to Denver are the reasons, as a person from colorado, I wanna flee Denver, if not the whole state. From my perspective I look at the state and think choosing Denver as your place is insanity with the rest of the options avaiable. Though, keep in mind, I only consider colorado to be anything west of I25, the rest is Kansas, and Pilgrim can tell you all about Kansas

I'm just not a city person, I get no joy from city life, only stress and lost time and the city is groaning under unprecedented inflow of new residents. It's the californication of the rockies in general. Our permit proposals are verifying that.

I'll get over all of it soon I think.

16 mile commute, huh? Is there a good bike route?

No not really, a lot of places to get splattered, though. I travel from northwest Denver to Lone Tree. Perhaps could wind west to the C470 path and work my way south and east now that I think about it. But I'm already dealing with enough lost time driving. Biking that route would be something like 40 to 50 miles

My most favorite I70 story would be the story where I use I70 to permanently move to the mountains