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Harry Dale
Evergreen

February 3, 2005

I would like to respond to your Jan. 30 article "Ski areas support more lanes for I-70."

The first paragraph indicates that local ski area officials support adding lanes to the Interstate 70 corridor as a short-term solution to highway congestion.

Nothing could be more misleading.

The reality is that I-70 highway widening will produce a 15-year, moving choke-hold on I-70 traffic as construction moves through the corridor and strangles the Colorado ski industry.

The result will be 15 years of increased congestion. This congestion will make today's peak weekend's congestion seem like a good day. I'd like to understand how this provides a short-term solution.

The draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), pages 2-64 through 2-68 and 3.9-17 through 3.9-20 should be mandatory reading for everyone preparing a comment on the draft PEIS.

Adding highway lanes to I-70 as proposed in the draft PEIS is a 15-year process, (2010-2025).

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will aim to keep the highway operational during the construction period; however, reductions in the number of lanes and temporary total closures will occur during off-peak travel periods.

Even during peak periods, there will likely be lane closures, lane and shoulder narrowings, transitions and detours from old pavement to new pavement with reduced standards and speeds and convoying of traffic through one-way stretches, all of which will add to travel times.

The use of traffic control devices will be extensive and will affect the speed of traffic in construction areas.

Construction activity in close proximity of traffic will likely result in extended traffic interference.

The residents of Clear Creek County, their visitors, businesses, governments and other institutions and all of the people traveling through the county will be affected by the construction work.

Construction in the mountain corridor is different than it might be in Metro Denver since there are in places no viable alternative routes.

In Clear Creek County there is no viable alternative to I-70 between Bakerville and the Eisenhower Tunnel, between Silver Plume and Georgetown and between Hidden Valley and Kermitt's, (U.S. 6/U.S. 40/I-70 junction).

In other places in the county there are frontage roads, however the frontage roads carry only minimal capacity and are already clogged up during peak I-70 travel periods.

CDOT officials will downplay the construction impacts of highway widening and tout their expertise in managing construction activities, as demonstrated on I-25 during T-REX and US 40 on Berthoud Pass.

While there is no doubt that CDOT has considerable expertise in this area, the mountain corridor is a much more restricted corridor than I-25 and the I-70 traffic volumes are many times greater than U.S. 40 at Berthoud Pass.

CDOT also does not control drivers' behavior. People slow down when the orange cones and barricades come out and they love to take their time in construction zones and monitor construction activities - usually referred to as rubbernecking.

In your article you also quote Melanie Mills as indicating that ski resorts along the I-70 corridor are in general agreement that a short-term capacity increase is necessary to relieve traffic congestion.

She also says that the no action approach is not acceptable. I would suggest that after a few years of highway construction, the ski resorts will be wishing they supported a no-action alternative.

I would urge the Colorado ski industry to take a closer look at the alternatives in the draft PEIS and avoid the initial reaction that highway lanes are the least-expensive solution.

In the long run, highway solutions could very well be the most-expensive solutions.