Fix I-70 Now

Fix I-70 Now

Are you following the conversation over at Google Groups regarding Chris Romer’s wiki bill?

To read the comments just join the Google Group called Fix I-70 Now. The comments run the course of good to great, many of which I’ve never considered before.

It all started off a month ago when Senator Romer suggested a wacky plan to charge a fee to users of I-70 during rush ski hours along with giving a rebate to travelers who make an effort to drive to and fro the mountains in low traffic time. Romer went skiing the same weekend, when identifying himself, follow skiers wanted to hit him over the head with a ski pole!

The assault didn’t actually happen, but what did happen was Romer got everyone talking about a problem we all have been living with for a very long time.

The bummer to bummer traffic is ruining our wonderful day trips to the mountains. It is most evident during the winter, but summer time traffic is not all that light either.

The truth is, our highways are in adequate for the amount of traffic using them.

I love the idea of constructing a monorail. The graceful gliding of silent cars through the mountains seems to be an elegant solution. Of course the solution will come with a price tag, but any solution has a price tag. The problem is, who’s going to pick up the tab?

On the Google site the most interesting suggestion is:

The idea that follows was suggested by someone in a letter to the
Rocky Mountain News sometime last year, and it struck me as
brilliant. Bore a highway tunnel from Floyd Hill to Dillon. One
“hole” could be drilled initially with two reversible lanes, and a
second one added later if necessary. A toll could be charged to help
defray the construction costs. This option would have minimal impact
on I-70 during construction, would be immune to weather problems, and
would save both time and fuel for those who used it.

I am told that Switzerland, Austria and Italy have extensive highway
tunnels through the Alps, we should too.

Wow, that would be a heck of a long tunnel! The benefits certainly are obvious, of course the price tag for this would be enormous too! Colorado doesn’t have the tax base like Switzerland, Austria and Italy does. But I bet if we managed to build a tunnel like this and charge for its use, the users would be glad to pay, simply for the convenience of it!

Some suggestions for finding the money are interesting too:

My suggestion is to take all the money budgeted to keeping hard-core prisoners on death row alive in the Colorado Prison Systems and use that money to use the already operating bus transits system in effect to shuttle from a point on I-70 to their designated slopes/skiing area. What’s so difficult about using a method already in effect?

Staggering the opening/closing of the resorts is another good idea.

Taxing out of state home owners?? Utterly stupid idea. Do you know the long term affects of that? Get out your calculator.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE PRISONERS? Enforce Capital Punishment. Prisoners are in prison BECAUSE they broke the Law of the State of Colorado or the Law of The United States of America. How much tax money does it take in one year to keep an habitual criminal alive? Colorado’s Crime Rate is on the rise because the criminal has no fear of the Law. Capital Punishment enforced is a deterrent.

They are violators of the Judicial System. Keeping them alive on death row – why, gee thanks and a slap in the face to the Law Abiding Tax Payer.

Finding existing money that is not being used efficiently certainly is a good start. It doesn’t matter which way we go, the road to a solution is going to be littered with road-blocks, opposition and miscellaneous challenges.

I encourage everyone to go browse the Fix I-70 Now site. The comments are entertaining, some far fetched, others ignorant and even totally self-serving. Go browse and ponder a solution. Colorado needs it.