I-25 North Widening - Longmont to Fort Collins

[SD Mapman]

I just visited CO last week and I did drive up to Cheyenne from Denver. It was kind of jarring to see somewhat busy traffic volumes suddenly just drop once you pass maybe the CO-14 interchange.

I live on 14 (about 20-25 miles 'highway west' of that interchange). 14's the last real 'civilization' on I-25, before Cheyenne, if you don't count Wellington. A lot of truck traffic bails there for 287 to Laramie, and it's the 'downtown' exit for Foco.

The trucks haven't figured out Owl Canyon yet? Honestly IMO Larimer County should sign that as "TRUCK 287" and then you could get a lot of the through trucks out of Downtown Fort Collins...

[corco]

I just visited CO last week and I did drive up to Cheyenne from Denver. It was kind of jarring to see somewhat busy traffic volumes suddenly just drop once you pass maybe the CO-14 interchange.

I live on 14 (about 20-25 miles 'highway west' of that interchange). 14's the last real 'civilization' on I-25, before Cheyenne, if you don't count Wellington. A lot of truck traffic bails there for 287 to Laramie, and it's the 'downtown' exit for Foco.

The trucks haven't figured out Owl Canyon yet? Honestly IMO Larimer County should sign that as "TRUCK 287" and then you could get a lot of the through trucks out of Downtown Fort Collins...

Just getting Owl Canyon paved a few years ago took decades and caused the residents to go insane (and was sad, because it was fun that the fastest route from Denver to anywhere in the northwest involved a dirt road) - actively encouraging trucks to use it would cause a mutiny

[US 89]

I just visited CO last week and I did drive up to Cheyenne from Denver. It was kind of jarring to see somewhat busy traffic volumes suddenly just drop once you pass maybe the CO-14 interchange.

I live on 14 (about 20-25 miles 'highway west' of that interchange). 14's the last real 'civilization' on I-25, before Cheyenne, if you don't count Wellington. A lot of truck traffic bails there for 287 to Laramie, and it's the 'downtown' exit for Foco.

The trucks haven't figured out Owl Canyon yet? Honestly IMO Larimer County should sign that as "TRUCK 287" and then you could get a lot of the through trucks out of Downtown Fort Collins...

Just getting Owl Canyon paved a few years ago took decades and caused the residents to go insane (and was sad, because it was fun that the fastest route from Denver to anywhere in the northwest involved a dirt road) - actively encouraging trucks to use it would cause a mutiny

A good amount of truckers' GPS units probably aren't updated yet. And if you aren't already familiar with the road, "County Road 72" does not exactly indicate "this is a continuous highway" especially in an area that's chock full of county roads that become low quality dirt in the mountains. Maybe in Alabama it would, with the vast networks of high quality county roads there. But not in Colorado.

[ski-man]

I take Owl Canyon Road and CR70 multiple times a month traveling to and from Laramie. Believe me, plenty of semi's know about it now. It is not our little secret anymore.

[zachary_amaryllis]

I just visited CO last week and I did drive up to Cheyenne from Denver. It was kind of jarring to see somewhat busy traffic volumes suddenly just drop once you pass maybe the CO-14 interchange.

I live on 14 (about 20-25 miles 'highway west' of that interchange). 14's the last real 'civilization' on I-25, before Cheyenne, if you don't count Wellington. A lot of truck traffic bails there for 287 to Laramie, and it's the 'downtown' exit for Foco.

The trucks haven't figured out Owl Canyon yet? Honestly IMO Larimer County should sign that as "TRUCK 287" and then you could get a lot of the through trucks out of Downtown Fort Collins...

Even worse - the parts of that road near 287, are almost up to state-highway quality. The county did a real nice repave of a good part of that road. It reverts to 'standard county road' around CR 19, though. The striping though, around that intersection... yeesh. It looks like it's been reconfigured a few times, and if you're not paying attention, you could be zonking along at 65 in the left-turn lane.

They've been trying to do this since I was a kid. Every time the train goes through downtown, it's a truck nightmare for a while, until the traffic unborks itself.

[zachary_amaryllis]

I just visited CO last week and I did drive up to Cheyenne from Denver. It was kind of jarring to see somewhat busy traffic volumes suddenly just drop once you pass maybe the CO-14 interchange.

I live on 14 (about 20-25 miles 'highway west' of that interchange). 14's the last real 'civilization' on I-25, before Cheyenne, if you don't count Wellington. A lot of truck traffic bails there for 287 to Laramie, and it's the 'downtown' exit for Foco.

The trucks haven't figured out Owl Canyon yet? Honestly IMO Larimer County should sign that as "TRUCK 287" and then you could get a lot of the through trucks out of Downtown Fort Collins...

Just getting Owl Canyon paved a few years ago took decades and caused the residents to go insane (and was sad, because it was fun that the fastest route from Denver to anywhere in the northwest involved a dirt road) - actively encouraging trucks to use it would cause a mutiny

A good amount of truckers' GPS units probably aren't updated yet. And if you aren't already familiar with the road, "County Road 72" does not exactly indicate "this is a continuous highway" especially in an area that's chock full of county roads that become low quality dirt in the mountains. Maybe in Alabama it would, with the vast networks of high quality county roads there. But not in Colorado.

It's also not continously CR 72. The path, you start on 72, then you're on 19 for a minute, then the roundabout (in the middle of nowhere!), and you're on 70.