No way. Not doing it. Not getting in the car early Saturday morning to head to the ski hill.
No matter how powdery the snow, how blue the skies, or how many discounted lift passes are offered, there is not a good enough reason to slog through the hideous traffic congestion on Interstate 70 to get to the ski resorts.
The Colorado Department of Transportation should be commended for expanding the highway near Idaho Springs, planning to add a shoulder lane during peak times, and during off-peak hours.
But congestion continues, turning one-hour trips into unforgivable three- to four-hour slogs.
“We worry we have hit that critical point,” said Margaret Bowes, program manager for the I-70 Coalition — a consortium of mountain towns and resorts.
The tipping point has tipped.
In 2007, it was estimated resorts, residents and other businesses lose about $839 million a year due to the weekend gridlock.
That was eight years ago.
One of the worst days on I-70 through the mountains occurred on . A winter storm with heavy snow and gusty winds hit during the Sunday peak drive when legions of skiers depart from the resorts for Denver.
“It took me three hours and five minutes to go from the on-ramp at Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel. It usually takes five minutes,” said state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Silverthorne, who is drafting legislation that would clarify existing state laws for when and where passenger vehicles must abide by state chain laws.
Officials have sought solutions to the I-70 quagmire for decades. In 2011, the Federal Highway Administration approved a “preferred alternative” for I-70 that called for widening the highway as well as a fully elevated “advanced guideway” transit system.
That levitating train system powered by magnets could haul up to 6 million people a year. A trip between Golden and Breckenridge would be just over 30 minutes. The Vail commute would be 50 minutes.
But it would cost about $16.5 billion — clearly not going to happen.
The preferred alternative also calls for options, such as transit — specifically, buses. It is unfathomable people still are just talking about a robust ski bus service.
Imagine parking near C-470 early Saturday, hopping on a well-heated bus destined for specific ski resorts, stowing your skis and snowboards and relaxing while the bus rumbles up designated lanes past the legions stuck in traffic.
In 2008, then-state to toll I-70 drivers with revenues paying for grants to provide bus service to resorts.
Since then, not much has been done to encourage such a system.
Private companies like the Front Range Ski Bus and Colorado Mountain Express offer round-trip shuttles between Denver and ski resorts. But it is not enough.
it will offer bus service with its own fleet of coaches between Glenwood Springs and Denver during the weekdays. But the real problem for I-70 is on winter weekends, specifically Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons.
And on Jan. 24, CDOT is sponsoring a bus day with the handful of private companies.
Bowes of the I-70 Coalition says her group is enthusiastically advocating for multimodal solutions, though she admits buses aren’t enough to solve the problem.
“But they can have an impact,” she said.
It would surely be enough to get me to brave the commute once again.
E-mail Jeremy Meyer at jpmeyer@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JPMeyerDPost
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