Is the I70 traffic REALLY that bad?

It's bad, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Sunday afternoon.  The normal 1 hour ride can easily extend to 2 hours or more.  Especially if there's an accident or its snowing heavily.  That said, avoid those times and its usually a quick trip.  And coming from an area where the closest decent skiing is 3 hours away, even 2 hours sounds pretty good.   

yep, pretty bad.  I have learned that I would rather spend the extra couple hundred $'s to stay the night and get up at 0 - dark thirty than drive back down on a Sat/Sun after skiing.

It's bad. That said, if you get up there before first chair, ski hard til 1, then drive down, you get a good day in and don't have the deal with traffic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rachelv 

It's bad. That said, if you get up there before first chair, ski hard til 1, then drive down, you get a good day in and don't have the deal with traffic.

This too. We left Lionshead @ 1:30 last Sat and were in Denver in about 2 hours.  The ride down from the tunnel to IS was slower.
 

Nobody drives I-70 anymore during rush hour. It's TOO CROWDED!

it's bad, but defintely not that bad to just throw in the towel???

plenty of options to enjoy so much so close to Denver.  if I leave by 6:30AM it's usually fine, week days rock, sometimes there's no traffic on weekends, early december and april are sweet with low crowds, stay up an extra day or 2 and get more days in without a commute, cheap accomodation can be found at certain times of season, ski closer resorts/ ski areas.  i often ski loveland or abasin and can make it there in just over an hour, park 20 yards from the lift, no crowds, awesome terrain, friendly and good value lessons and ski school for kids, and don't even need to go through the tunnel... and home for a late lunch!!!

he's a whiner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManyRuns 

it's bad, but defintely not that bad to just throw in the towel???

 

 

Yeah, this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloradokid 

Nobody drives I-70 anymore during rush hour. It's TOO CROWDED!

Thank you, Yogi.

If you want some serious data-oriented discussion of I-70 ski traffic, read this: http://goi70.com/wp/blog/

Here's their summary of typical traffic:

I have seen I-70 a parking lot. Luckily I live in C-Springs and there are a few "back ways" to get there that avoids the crowds. Not enough money for lodging is kinda a bogus excuse. You can stay for 30-40 a night in Idaho Springs which is only about 25 mins from Loveland which is completely doable. Silverthorn can be done for about 50 a night

I did this drive for three winter from 07-10. It can get discouraging on weekends. You better get up early if you want to beat traffic, meaning passing the evergreen exit at or even better before 7 am. Also if you know its gonna be real badthen 285 9is at least consistent albeit longer. Weekdays are not a problem usually and Winter Park and Loveland are a little better with no tunnel.

With that said if I ever lived there again I would easily choose Grand Junction as home base as I love the mtb, desert, local ski area (powderhorn) and good central location for road trips (utah, tride)

No doubt there needs to be some sort of solution and I don't see anyone agreeing on one of the many costly plans. Someone needs to take the helm over there...

I've been stuck in heavy I70 traffic a couple times when visiting. In Tahoe, I80 plugs up predicably too. Socal roads are always bad. One thing to remember about resort traffic is that the other people on the road are your ski buddies from the hill. In one respect, the fact that there are a lot of them means you have more people who share, understand and enjoy your passion.

Try not to stress over the traffic. Plan for it. Movies for the kids, books on tape or some favorite music can help. Teach the kids how to get homework done in the car and they have a useful skill to apply in college! (I have fond memories of our drives with the kids - I haven't really seen Indiana Jones but I can quote the whole soundtrack and my kid's laughs from the car video). Or have dinner on the hill and come down a bit later.

Remember, skiing is fun. With some thought, the travel can be part of the good experience.

Eric

It's not just the winter--I've seen weekend on I-70 traffic year round when visiting friends and relatives in the area, and locals have told me it's actually worse during the summer. So if you're a hiker too, it's going to be a pain year round. It would discourage me--I work M-F and commute to work, so the last thing I want to do on a Saturday is to fight traffic on my way to the slopes (or to get up ridiculously early in the hopes I don't have to).

I wouldn't come down on the guy for not being able to stay the night--you don't really know his financial situation, if his kid's a pain in the butt to travel with, etc etc. With me, getting dog care (or trying to find dog friendly overnight lodging) makes it a little more difficult.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NayBreak 

I got home from my 19th day this season last night. Sunday traffic cost us about 10 minutes and I left Winter Park at 4:30. Ski traffic has cost me about two hours total all season in a mix of weekend and weekday skiing.
I left home, 30 mins South of Denver, at 6:00 am. We did not even slow down, took the kids to Starbucks before ski school, skied until the bell with them after school.
I have four kids, ages 13, 12, 8, & 7. Two Bernese Mountain Dogs. I can guarantee you it isn't the traffic. You do it or you don't.

I'm assuming you avoid the major weekends then. Also not going through the tunnel makes a huge difference as that's where most of the traffic jams are.

This isn't rocket science. The rush hour is bad.  So you get up early, drive up to Summit County and ski, quit at 4 PM or whatever, go have a nice early dinner somewhere, dawdle a little and leave at 6 PM, and if you hit traffic jump off I-70 and take the frontage road.  Or ski Winter Park.

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloradokid 

Nobody drives I-70 anymore during rush hour. It's TOO CROWDED!

Oh...where do I begin?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf210 

I'm assuming you avoid the major weekends then. Also not going through the tunnel makes a huge difference as that's where most of the traffic jams are.

I don't absolutely avoid major weekends - but I will take vacation when my kids are off school around a weekend like President's Day.  We skied that Tuesday with no crowds and no I-70 traffic.  My wife and I skied the Friday before while the kids were in school.  I think my parking spot was 50 feet from the Jane Super Gauge 6-pack. I realize that I have some flexibility that others do not, but I have designed my life around this flexibility for a reason.

I do avoid the tunnel for a reason...although you pick up Berthoud in exchange.  This is option limiting, but hardly terrain limiting for family skiing.  I'd probably go up I-70 and home Rt 9 to 24 if I was skiing Summit (I live in Monument).

I don't know...parenthood is an awfully long haul that also disappears on you in a flash and leaves you well into middle age.  If not now and not here, then when and where?  Nobody will remember that the house wasn't always clean, or that Idaho Springs sucks on I-70, or that they had to get up at 5 am instead of 6 am, or that some homework or a work project has to be finished at the expense of extra sleep because you got home late.

If I could have the house I have on the acre I have, with excellent schools and cultural amenities and climate and quality of life and access to the mountains, at a better price point (income potential vs. real estate costs), then I probably would have gone, at least before the real estate crash. 

After I win Mega Millions this week I'll be back in touch from Switzerland.  That is one place where you simply cannot complain, even if you are not skiing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf210 

I'm assuming you avoid the major weekends then. Also not going through the tunnel makes a huge difference as that's where most of the traffic jams are.

the tunnel isn't really the issue to me. two weeks ago on Sunday it was ok w/in a mile or so of the tunnel (was about 2:45 or so), but thick downhill all the way past Empire.  the loading from US6 and US40 is a big part of the traffic volume each way.  It got a lot better, of course, where it widens out where US6 branches off to the left west of Floyd hill.  I agree with the other comments...just go with it, don't expect great things on Sunday, most times only about 45-75 minutes extra driving.  We leave early in the AM to miss most of the traffic going up.  Most days only an extra 10-15 minutes to Keystone or Breck.  If we ski Breck we head south to Fairplay to grab US285 back up to Denver.  Last time that was only about 2:10 minutes back to Littleton.  All is worth it when kids' sports etc mean you just can leave on Friday evening and come back on Sunday.  Small price to pay (for living in CO) is how we rationalize it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by job151 

the tunnel isn't really the issue to me. two weeks ago on Sunday it was ok w/in a mile or so of the tunnel (was about 2:45 or so), but thick downhill all the way past Empire.  the loading from US6 and US40 is a big part of the traffic volume each way.  It got a lot better, of course, where it widens out where US6 branches off to the left west of Floyd hill.  I agree with the other comments...just go with it, don't expect great things on Sunday, most times only about 45-75 minutes extra driving.  We leave early in the AM to miss most of the traffic going up.  Most days only an extra 10-15 minutes to Keystone or Breck.  If we ski Breck we head south to Fairplay to grab US285 back up to Denver.  Last time that was only about 2:10 minutes back to Littleton.  All is worth it when kids' sports etc mean you just can leave on Friday evening and come back on Sunday.  Small price to pay (for living in CO) is how we rationalize it. 

yeah but when they start doing tunnel closures every twenty minutes for hazardous waste things get nasty. I/friends have taken over an hour to go from Silverthorn to the tunnel. It's the reason I never go that way anymore. Co 9 to 24 conveniently dumps you out at the south side of the springs. Not to mention I-70 has a tendency for wrecks during storms. I'm guessing because of the large number of inexperienced snow drivers.

The traffic on I70 is terrible.  The only solution is for everyone to go to SLC.

Just saying.

Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by raspritz 

This isn't rocket science. The rush hour is bad.  So you get up early, drive up to Summit County and ski, quit at 4 PM or whatever, go have a nice early dinner somewhere, dawdle a little and leave at 6 PM, and if you hit traffic jump off I-70 and take the frontage road.  Or ski Winter Park.

 Just stay on the damn highway, please (flat landers). Being from Frisco you should know how annoying dealing with the traffic as part of life becomes.

Its bad. How bad? It depends on what you are used to. I'm sure a lot of So-Cal folks wouldn't consider it awful, but its pretty nasty, getting worse (much worse in the last ten years), and it will be a long, long time before anything changes to make it better.

I remember living in Colorado Springs where I griped about the extra hour it took to get to the ski areas compared to Denver. Now, with I-70 taking an extra hour to go from the 470 interchange to the tunnel every weekend morning AND AFTERNOON from December to March, driving time to many areas from Colorado Springs is now pretty comparable, and the benefit is that the drive time is much more consistent.

Sunday afternoon traffic in the summer is a giant mess too. Traffic volume is actually higher in the summer, but this is misleading because the traffic is more spread out through the day (excepting Sunday afternoon) while on winter weekends, everybody in the world on the road is going up from 7-10:00 and down 2-5:00.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anachronism 

 on winter weekends, everybody in the world on the road is going up from 7-10:00 and down 2-5:00.

I know it's a tad communist but the quickest and cheapest way to solve traffic problems would be to have mandatory weekend staggering. School and work schedules should be staggered so that the majority don't have off on the same days and are not driving to work and school on the same days.  Spread it out people.  Of course that would also mean businesses would need to stay open 7 days a week and staff up to accomodate but maybe that would reduce unemployment at the same time.  And as someone who only skis on weekdays this is a very selfless suggestion...my ski commute would only get worse while the weekenders would get better.

/I already know this isn't workable but still I like to think it would be

^I've thought about that latley too, that would be cool because everything wouldn't be so damn busy every weekend (not only for skiing).

This was an awful snow year with almost no major storms and our friends who have 3 young kids with lots of acitvities scheduled every weekend had 5 days where the drive from Copper to Denver (70 miles) took 3.5 hours or more and 2 of those days were 5 hours to drive 70 miles. 

There are ways around traffic but if you are a day skier and not spending the night you are pretty much screwed...

Quote:

Originally Posted by UGASkiDawg 

This was an awful snow year with almost no major storms and our friends who have 3 young kids with lots of acitvities scheduled every weekend had 5 days where the drive from Copper to Denver (70 miles) took 3.5 hours or more and 2 of those days were 5 hours to drive 70 miles. 

 

There are ways around traffic but if you are a day skier and not spending the night you are pretty much screwed...

I've noticed that I-70 traffic does not seem to increase much, if at all, with storms. Sure, traffic may be slower due to road conditions, but it seems for every group of people foaming at the mouth to catch a powder day, there is a family deciding not to ski.

It seems to be quite different than the stories I hear of Little Cottonwood plugged solid with traffic on a good snow day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anachronism 

I've noticed that I-70 traffic does not seem to increase much, if at all, with storms. Sure, traffic may be slower due to road conditions, but it seems for every group of people foaming at the mouth to catch a powder day, there is a family deciding not to ski.

 

It seems to be quite different than the stories I hear of Little Cottonwood plugged solid with traffic on a good snow day.

 

This does ring true ... but it also is tough to compare LCC and I-70: they are different animals. Driving 15 miles in a storm is a bit different than driving 60.

I-70 traffic really is bad between Frederick and Hagerstown, and puts a real crimp on trips to Whitetail, Wisp, Seven Springs, Timberline and Canaan Valley.  They really need to widen it to a six lane road.