Regional Boards > Mountain West
I-80 Reroute in Wyoming
zzcarp:
--- Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on December 11, 2022, 04:46:30 PM ---
--- Quote from: US 89 on December 11, 2022, 10:43:40 AM ---
--- Quote from: SD Mapman on December 11, 2022, 09:59:44 AM ---
--- Quote from: sprjus4 on December 06, 2022, 02:47:02 AM ---
--- Quote from: DenverBrian on December 05, 2022, 10:19:47 PM ---Well, the simple solution would be simply to stripe the lane double yellow solid, indicating no passing from either direction. But they don't. So it seems to me that they're allowing passing into the faux chicken lane in that instance.
--- End quote ---
The problem with that, and I’ve encountered this a lot in Texas particularly, is that when you stripe it double solid when there’s two lanes in the other direction, you could be on the single lane side, on a straightaway for miles, no cars in the other directions, but not allowed to pass. Sometimes for 2-4 mile at a time, or it doesn’t ever give your side a passing lane.
--- End quote ---
For 287 in particular, this wouldn't be a problem; I don't think there was a time I took it and there wasn't consistent traffic going the other direction (not super heavy, but consistent).
--- End quote ---
287 really should just be four lanes the whole way from Laramie to Fort Collins. Wyoming has made a decent start at that. Colorado has not.
--- End quote ---
I've never understood that, but am willing to defer to someone who knows more than I.
Like, was CO so strapped for cash at the time, that they could only afford to add passing lanes in some areas? That road all the way through, is this weird mishmosh of passing lanes, and 2-lanes. I agree with 89 - consistent, but not necessarily always thick. The day I took that drive was the day of the Border War, so southbound was a little thicker than usual.
And they really seem to get that people get aggressive through here. There's all kinds of 'passing lane x-miles' signs, at the end of the passing lanes. Almost like CDOT's going 'ok, you'll get 'im on the next one ... patience..'
But yeah. 4-lane it. And fix the weird undulations on the NB side just S of Teds.
--- End quote ---
CDOT leadership is anti-road and anti-highway. 287 will likely never be four-laned, but there will be another municipal bike path that CDOT funds instead.
zachary_amaryllis:
By way of an update: Talked to the state trooper I always see at Teds. He confirms, that the Prius in question was in fact, in violation (showed him the video), but unless such pass is being done in a blatantly unsafe way, he does not enforce it.
When I asked what 'blatantly unsafe' meant to him, he said that he would not have bothered the Prius, since no one had to dodge/brake/dive for the ditch/etc, and everyone was KREPT-ing. He also said, other troopers might see this differently.
JREwing78:
--- Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on December 15, 2022, 07:43:00 AM ---By way of an update: Talked to the state trooper I always see at Teds. He confirms, that the Prius in question was in fact, in violation (showed him the video), but unless such pass is being done in a blatantly unsafe way, he does not enforce it.
When I asked what 'blatantly unsafe' meant to him, he said that he would not have bothered the Prius, since no one had to dodge/brake/dive for the ditch/etc, and everyone was KREPT-ing. He also said, other troopers might see this differently.
--- End quote ---
I'm going to hazard a guess that his counterparts in Michigan and Wisconsin would also "see this differently". But clearly it's enough of a convention that people in Colorado expect it and drive accordingly. Ditto for driving on the paved shoulder to allow slower traffic to pass - very common in Texas, but nonexistent in my neck of the woods.
--- Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on December 11, 2022, 04:46:30 PM ---And they really seem to get that people get aggressive through here. There's all kinds of 'passing lane x-miles' signs, at the end of the passing lanes. Almost like CDOT's going 'ok, you'll get 'im on the next one ... patience..'
--- End quote ---
MDOT (Michigan) is similarly aggressive with these signs and the frequency of passing lanes on US-2 between Escanaba and St. Ignace. I will say the aggressive 4-lane passing lane buildout has made this stretch far less road-rage inducing than it once was, and the reminder signs are helpful in planning your next passing attempt.
MDOT also at one point had to post signs reminding folks that US-2 is not a freeway. For most WBD US-2 travelers, US-2 is the first long stretch of non-Interstate highway they've driven in several hours. It's also wide (with fully paved shoulders) and fairly level, so drivers are prone to speed. At the time, it was posted for 55 (it's now 65), so driving at 70+mph there guaranteed you a speeding ticket from the State Police.
StogieGuy7:
--- Quote from: JREwing78 on December 16, 2022, 04:10:03 AM ---I'm going to hazard a guess that his counterparts in Michigan and Wisconsin would also "see this differently". But clearly it's enough of a convention that people in Colorado expect it and drive accordingly. Ditto for driving on the paved shoulder to allow slower traffic to pass - very common in Texas, but nonexistent in my neck of the woods.
--- End quote ---
When it comes to Wisconsin, they seem to encourage left lane camping and discourage anything associated with expedient driving. People up here literally get pissed off if passed in a passing zone, and you've politely signaled while doing it. The cops are no different. I once got pulled over on I-94 near Osseo for doing 77 in a 70! Talk about being a dick. And the trooper's effeminate cheesehead accent didn't help matters as far as creating a positive impression either. So, I have no doubt that you speak the truth. That said, Colorado drivers are also 10 times more skilled than Wisconsinites. And I've lived in both.
andy3175:
A column by editor Bill Sniffin ran in the Cowboy State Daily about the controversial section of I-80 between Walcott Junction and Laramie including a brief history of its nickname as well as challenges with keeping it open during the winter: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/12/08/bill-sniffin-worst-winter-road-in-america-who-named-our-snow-chi-minh-trail/
Here are some excerpts:
--- Quote ---“Dear God, please help us get through this awful mess of a highway. If you get us through safely, so help me, we will never do anything bad again.”
Prayers like this and many more variants emanate from folks in a long line of cars stranded in blizzards on a horrible stretch of winter highway dubbed the “Snow Chi Minh Trail” – aka Interstate 80.
Like so many Wyomingites, our family has been there so many times.
This area is commonly referred to in the last four decades as the “Snow Chi Minh Trail.” Where did that name come from? ...
John Waggener, an archivist and historian for the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, is my go-to expert. He wrote the recent best-selling book “Snow Chi Minh Trail,” and he now has tracked down the origin of the name. ...
With his latest research, he now cites famed Denver Post columnist Red Fenwick with referring to the road as follows. Fenwick wrote it is a “White Elephant,” of course referring to the snow and to a road that Wyoming now had to deal with. He called it the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Then, pointing to the Vietnam reference, he said folks in the Laramie-Rawlins area “call it that not because it is so frequently bombed, but because southern Wyomingites are convinced that the engineers who designed it were bombed. ‘Bombed’ is a silly synonym for plastered, zonked, crocked.’”
Fenwick wrote this Feb. 21, 1971. ...
Wyoming people have complained for 51 years about the location of the road. Anybody with local knowledge knew that the current mountain route was a disaster, especially in the six months of winter. They all preferred the current route of U.S. Highway 30.
Waggener has done more research than anyone on that road and he recently sent me a few more nuggets that he thought would be interesting to our readers.
For example, Waggener writes:
“I had heard stories about an earlier survey for a route that was even closer to the mountain! I did find a reference to this, so I did make note in my book but nothing more than that. However, since my book came out in the fall of 2020, I have now confirmed there was such a survey. I even was given the actual survey roll by one of the survey crew members. I have made a scan of a portion of it and it is published here.
“This survey shows the Feds actually had a proposal to locate the road south of the town of Elk Mountain. The road literally would have passed at the foot of Elk Mountain via Halleck Pass. The road would have been several miles closer to Elk Mountain where the snow and blowing snow impact would have been even greater.
“You will see on the late 1950s survey a red line, which is the route that eventually was selected and a proposed ‘blue line’ that passes south of the town of Elk Mountain.”
It is hard to imagine the level of stubbornness that would cause national officials to make these stupid decisions about the site of the roadway. We all have paid the price for this ever since.
--- End quote ---
This column points back to earlier statements Mr. Sniffin made about Interstate 80 in a November 2022 article also referenced here: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/11/29/bill-sniffin-terrifying-tales-of-treacherous-driving-on-interstate-80-in-the-winter-time/. He spoke with historian John Waggener to learn more about the route of I-80 through this area:
--- Quote ---And then there is John Waggener’s great book about Interstate 80, which he calls the Snow Chi Minh Trail, explains why federal highway officials picked the mountainous site rather than the longer U.S. Highway 30 route.
He recalls there were some very stubborn federal officials, headed by a rockhead named Frank Turner, who were obsessed with the new road cutting off 19 “unnecessary miles,” compared to the route used by U. S. 30 through Rock River and Medicine Bow.
He writes that Wyoming people fought valiantly in the 1960s to keep the new road out of the mountains. The federal people would not listen to them and threatened to not build it, unless it could be built on their route through the mountains.
Waggener says there are other places in Wyoming along Interstate 80 that offer problems, such as the summit between Laramie and Cheyenne, but nothing compares to that daunting 77-mile trip from Laramie to Walcott Junction.
Old-timers recall a famous CBS TV newsman named Charles Kuralt, whose specialty was traveling the country and reporting on out-of-the-way places.
He famously declared that the stretch from Laramie-Walcott Junction was “the worst stretch of interstate highway in America.”
Waggener also discloses the Union Pacific Railroad chose not to build along this route because of the obvious wind and the snow issues.
He reveals studies, which explained why there are such vicious winds near the Elk Mountain area. Due to the gap next to the mountain being the lowest elevation of the Rocky Mountains, wind blows at abnormally high velocities as the air rushes through there, causing havoc in the roads and stirring up the large amounts of snow that pile up.
--- End quote ---
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version