Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany received a friendly welcome to the world of Interstate 70 congestion politics this morning when Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, briefly loaned the Colorado Springs Republican his own battle-worn ski helmet.
Romer, who is floating a much publicized plan to charge tolls on I-70 between the foothills and the Eisenhower Tunnel during peak weekend traffic hours, got a ski-pole whacking atop his helmet earlier this year courtesy of a fellow skier who didn’t think much of Romer’s plan to alleviate congestion.
Now McElhany is floating his own idea: charging a $5 toll each way at the Eisenhower Tunnel. Summit and Clear Creek county residents would be exempt from the tolls. The money would be used to pay for widening the highway.
“I’m a little concerned there are an awful lot of marks on the top of this helmet,” McElhany said upon receiving the helmet. “It looks like it’s already taken a beating.”
Watching from a few feet away was Sen. Dan Gibbs, R-Silverthorne, who has criticized both plans because he says they skirt existing working groups that are preparing their own solutions to the I-70 logjams. One of those groups could present its recommendations as early as this spring.
Romer, though, tried to bring his colleague in on the joke.
“We just need to give Gibbs the ski pole and we’re ready to go,” he chuckled with McElhany.
“He doesn’t look to happy right now,” McElhany replied. In the end, though, Romer took back his helmet. McElhany’s head, it turns out, was just too big for it. “We’re hard-headed enough already,” McElhany said.
