75 Car Pile_up On I-70!!!

[tudizzle]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/31/march-farewell-splash/



That road is messed with all the semi's that travel on it. Then add the weekend skiers racing up to stand in line all day? Main reason why I don't head up that way too much.

Can take longer to go 50 miles thru the pass than 200 in the opposite direction most times.

Obviously the weather played a roll in this situation but of course it was a semi that started it all.

 

[AndrettiDog]

The Vail Daily reported that there were multiple amputee victims from the pile up. Just crazy.

 

[Ex-Member]

Insane. Love the comments on that story though

 

[mmaxcarver]

Sad that people just can't slow down and pay attention!!!! Too busy talking on their phones or playing games.....

 

[skidoojohncsu]

That I-70 it's the greatest. If it isn't an accident its miles of bumper to bumper traffic. They need to expand that highway in a bad way. I bet the ski resorts would even help pay for it, they have to be losing revenue because most people I know won't fight the traffic anymore.

 

[CO 2.0]

I drove through that mess yesterday coming back from Vail right when the shi-t hit the fan. WAY too many noob out of state drivers out there with their head up their as-s yesterday. Going slower than the damn semi's with chains on!!! No wonder the pile up was so big. Damn honda accord was trying to tow a Uhaul up and got stuck in the right lane spinning out while the other lane had 18 wheelers jack knifed with people piled up behind. It was a shi-t show to say the least. Thank god the duramax and Goodyear Wranglers prevailed!

 

[Dbook]

Sad that people just can't slow down and pay attention!!!! Too busy talking on their phones or playing games.....

What? I am to busy watching a dvd to answer the phone of play games!

 

[Bull]

it's funny how many people are afraid of berthoud pass, and will only go to summit county/vail to ski. i would rather drive up b-pass backwards in a blinding storm than deal with eisenhower tunnel and vail pass. vail pass is always a cluster. most people that go over the pass into winter park are intending to go skiing, sledding, etc.... on 70 you have people that are on their way to from one state to another and just happen to be there at the wrong time....no clue what the h3ll to do. once i was riding over the pass in a spring storm with a friend....driving an old rabbit. we spun out three times, once into the path of an oncoming plow. he wasn't driving poorly, or fast. i was like WTF? i asked him about his tires......"they are brand new".....when we got to empire and stopped to clean out our shorts, the first thing i did was get out and look at the rubber..............new skins on the front, totally slick..NO TREAD on the back!! i asked him what he was thinking....i quote "it is front wheel drive"

 

[smokenjay]

Its always a shame when people get hurt or killed in car crashes. I have recurring back problems from mine (thanks, you stupid out of state drunk). Anyhow, I agree that much of the traffic problems on a day like yesterday are due to ill-prepared people. Im not sure what they are thinking driving thier Mustang into a blizzard.

Earlier this year, I had a 2 hour trip up floyd hill. The traffic jam was caused by multiple two wheel drives, busses and semis whose tires were just spinning on the ice.

I have read about a proposed I-70 toll for peak ski season times. Somehow I dont think this will help. Below are my tips for a pleasant weekend trip on I-70. Please note that these are not fool proof.

1) Ski resorts are only open from 9:00 to 4:00. Leave your house late and ride until its dark. This does not work in december.

2) If the road is horrible, get off at Berthoud Pass and ride Jones or winter park. They are easier to get to.

3) The frontage road can be helpful. Use it with caution, sometimes it will slow your trip down.

4) For 95% of skiers, the season ended on Sunday. Keep riding all spring, there wont be heavy traffic again until June.

5) Go over Loveland Pass if it is precipitating in any way.

6) Always hope they close the highway on Sunday night, so you have to stay overnight and ride the next day.

7) If you know ahead of time that the traffic is bad, stop for dinner in Silverthorne. You will still get home at the same time.

In my opinion, a little forethought can elimate a lot (but not all) of your I-70 woes.

 

[thebigtreeman]

I drove from Hayden to Denver last night. The only clear spot was in and around Kremmling. The rest of the trip was chit!
I couldn't believe the a-holes on I-70.

 

[milehighassassin]

I drive this road every weekend, and I can say that I see just as many 4-wheel drive vehicles spun off in the ditch as I do cars. I would even go as far to say that there are more 4-wheels drives in the ditch. The list of problems goes on and on. The toll lane idea is a bad one, too much money to enforce. They need to limit semi's to the right lane only. I don't care how fast/slow the other semi is going, you pulling out doing 40 to pass the semi going 30 backs up traffic for miles. On top of that if a semi is not capable of doing say 45 the entire trip, then maybe an alternate route... It is an INTERSTATE. While the mono-rail system won't do much for sledders, it would help a lot with the skiers and the tourist traffic. I think the ski areas should have to pay charge a certain percentage of the lift ticket price. Say 6% per ticket has to to CDOT to help pay for that road. If they pulled a 6% tax out of every ticket (and every season pass) then that would help out a ton. These ski resorts have made a lot of money off of that road, no reason why they can't help a little bit to pay for them.

Leaving Denver you really need to be going past West Colfax by 6:00, if you can do that you will be alright. Coming back you had better be past Silverthorn by 2:00, if you haven't done that you will be in the middle of it. At around 7:00 PM traffic is mostly passed.

 

[tivoklr]

Monorail

It's all about the monorail. We already have too many cars up here in Vail...and the Epic pass is going to make for Epic parking problems.

I commute to Denver on Wednesdays and you bet I would leave the car and take the monorail so I wouldn't have to drive both ways. I'd pay a lot for that ride too.

I will concur with you all and say it's a total clusterf8ck though, and it's worst early and late season. The roads are WAY slicker...

 

[screagle2]

tuddy

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/31/march-farewell-splash/



That road is messed with all the semi's that travel on it. Then add the weekend skiers racing up to stand in line all day? Main reason why I don't head up that way too much.

Can take longer to go 50 miles thru the pass than 200 in the opposite direction most times.

Obviously the weather played a roll in this situation but of course it was a semi that started it all.

So you must be the noob that screwed up in front of the semi huh? Had to know it!

 

[tudizzle]

So you must be the noob that screwed up in front of the semi huh? Had to know it!

Well it certainly wasn't the fault of the highly skilled, professional driver behind the wheel of the tractor trailer.

 

[Tec]

It's hard to justify going up I-70 on the weekends, I do most of my skiing during the week if i'm going up, I'd rather drive up to Fort Collins and head through the pouder canyon to get up to Hwy 40 into Rabbit ears or steamboat from Denver. Maybe be these $5 tolls will help widen the road in the next 50 years

I never thought I-70 was to bad in till I took a trip to Utah this winter, Staying in Holliday, UT the big and little Cottonwood canyon are a ten minute drive from the house

 

[Bob the Builder]

Nice to already be up here, when we go to Denver we are opposite the traffic flow....would not wish the drive up here on my worst enemy. Only stuck on Vail Pass once in 25 years being here. S....ks for you guys on the front range.

 

[AZ800]

I came thru that clusterf...ck about 5 hrs before the pile-up. What a great welcome to my first full day back in CO!
I was pulling my Jeep on a trailer and had no problem maintaining a decent speed 35-40mph, but there were trucks (3of 'em) that didn't put chains on stuck, mashed the guardrail, etc. And then the other whole plethora of people that are afraid or unable to go more than 10mph and the yuppie SUV drivers that think they can still go 60. WTF

 

[flatlander_99]

just my .02

okay, i am going to put my .02 into this & hope i don't get flamed for it.
first of all you can't blame everything on the truck drivers. would you want that job? yes it is an interstate but how else are you going to get your food, gas, parts, or even your snowmobile if those truck drivers quit. i have a completly differnt point of view on their life because i work in the industry & have many family members who have or still are driving truck day in & day out getting their load to its destination. I70 & I80 are the busiest interstates in this country. they are the main vain to the west coast and it is the only route they can take. for those who say take a different route which one do you propose? i would love to see some people try to drive a semi up a winding 2 lane road & see how long they last without taking something or someone out. mountains are not forgiving & the weather makes this worse. i have been over the passes in the summer & almost lost it due to some idiot driving a minivan. we hit a pot hole & almost rolled the truck. the only people that had respect were the truck drivers. the road itself was chit due to the chains from the trucks chewing it up. i can only imagine what it is like in the winter. the company i work for paid thousands of dollars this year due to trucks being held up due to closed interstates & honestly I70 was not the main issue. CODOT does a great job given the area. there is only so much they can do so it is up to the truck drivers to first find a place to stop to put on the chains & secondly trudge up the hill in a 80,000 pound rig. not something just anyone can do. with the issues every trucking company is having keeping drivers these days not everyone is the brightest bulb on the tree but at least they are moving the products that we need. it is not always the reason but it seems like more & more truck drivers are blamed for accidents that were not their fault because the other driver did not understand what it takes to stop a semi. i'm not putting blame on who started this accident but don't point fingers if you don't know.
i have a world of respect for the truck drivers that travel down america's roadways every day. keep on rollin.
i'm getting down off my soapbox now...

 

[gkainz]

the truck driver gets the blame (just like the pilot in aviation accidents) but I've watched too many morons cut in and out around trucks just inches from the bumpers ... there's more than enough blame to go around on these incidents.

 

[milehighassassin]

the truck driver gets the blame (just like the pilot in aviation accidents) but I've watched too many morons cut in and out around trucks just inches from the bumpers ... there's more than enough blame to go around on these incidents.

Not justifying it, but semi's have no right to be in the left lane on 90% of the road from Denver to Vail. Too steep, too curvey. It happens every weekend to me that I am driving along doing 70 and some semi pulls out in front of me going 35 mph to pass the other semi going 30.