With the widening of Interstate 25 south of downtown Denver has come a new phenomenon – rush-hour speeding – and a state review of whether the freeway’s speed limit should be raised.
Cars going faster than the speed limit on I-25 during peak commute periods was seldom heard of five years ago, when the average commuter speed was 30 mph, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Then came the T-REX project, which added lanes to the interstate between Broadway and Lincoln Avenue in Douglas County.
Now, people are speeding “because they can,” said Stacey Stegman, CDOT spokeswoman.
These days, the average rush-hour commuter on that stretch of I-25 drives 65 mph, 10 mph above the posted speed limit inside Denver, Stegman said.
When it’s not rush hour, speeds are even higher, said Lt. Dave Fisher, who oversees Greenwood Village’s patrol services.
Greenwood Village officers ticketed 49 speeders on the city’s portion of I-25 on a recent Saturday, Fisher said. The slowest driver cited was going 82 mph; the fastest was a motorcyclist clocked at 123 mph.
Before T-REX – the Transportation Expansion Project – added lanes to I-25, no one could speed during rush hour, Fisher said. Now, there aren’t enough patrol officers to catch all the speeders or even a large fraction of them, he said.
Denver police spokesman John White agreed there has been an increase in speeding along the I-25 corridor, although the department couldn’t readily produce statistics.
“That’s a given,” White said. “There has been an increase of tickets.”
The widening and bridge replacement project that began in 2001 was so successful that the 55 mph speed limit from Interstate 225 to downtown Denver may be unrealistic and even dangerous, Stegman said.
Despite a large electronic sign over the freeway telling motorists to slow down, many rush-hour drivers going above the speed limit are weaving around slower commuters, posing a traffic hazard, Stegman said.
Rush-hour speeding is of particular concern because of the high volume of traffic on the freeway, increasing the chances for a collision.
“It could be more dangerous when you have such a huge variance in how fast people are traveling,” Stegman said.
A state traffic engineer is studying whether the speed limit should be raised to 65 mph through Denver, she said. The I-25 speed limit from Douglas County to the I-225 interchange is already 65 mph.
The state’s traffic expert will review typical speeds of rush-hour drivers, she said.
The engineer will also study highway alignment to see if I-25 can sustain a higher speed limit.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
