A program that uses police pace cars to reduce traffic congestion on Interstate 70 in the mountains this winter was suspended after too many skiers and other mountain visitors jammed the highway, creating a bottleneck.
Too many cars tried to get through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels Sunday. The vehicles were too slow for the police pace cars, said Stacey Stegman, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Stegman said the department will review the program and might use it later in the season when traffic is lighter.
Traffic through the tunnel was up slightly from the same Sunday in 2011, 43,953 vehicles compared with 42,590, she said.
The pace cars have been used since the beginning of the ski season in an attempt to avoid bottlenecks that forced highway officials to periodically close the tunnels so cars don’t get stuck inside and prevent emergency vehicles from entering the tunnels in the event of an accident.
“It’s really too hard to figure the optimal time for using the pace cars,” Stegman said. “When traffic is light, it’s unnecessary and it slows traffic down. When it’s too heavy, the cars go too slow.”
Colorado lawmakers, along with study committees, have wrestled with the problem for years.
One proposal promoted a “zipper” lane on weekends, using movable concrete barriers to temporarily add an extra eastbound lane, blocking one lane in the tunnel.
Stegman said that wouldn’t work because it would only shift the backups to the westbound lanes. Other proposals included running a train up the I-70 corridor, which was deemed too expensive; widening the highway; and even adding a third bore to the tunnels.
The ski industry isn’t alone in bringing traffic jams to the mountains, said Jennifer Rudolph, spokeswoman for Colorado Ski Country USA, which represents most of the ski resorts in Colorado. Campers, resort vacationers, mountain bikers and other mountain enthusiasts also need the extra room.
“There is no magic solution,” Rudolph said.
Stegman said the only solution is spending the billions of dollars needed to widen the highway.
