Questions about I70 traffic (Colorado)

C

ChrisHarper

Member
I just moved out to Colorado to start college and I know a ton of you guys live here as well. I've heard that I70 traffic can be bad and I experienced that for the first time yesterday.

I'm sure it's much worse in the winter, so is there a good time to avoid it on weekends? What time would you recommend heading west from Denver (Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday morining, etc,) and from what I've heard, the only option going back to Denver on a Sunday is to leave before 1 pm, which sucks if that's true.

Thanks guys,

(yes I am new to Ns but I have been lurking for a while)
 
Im gonna search all the colorado college student records and find all the incoming freshmen named Chris Harper and beat the shit outta them
 
topic:ChrisHarper said:
I just moved out to Colorado to start college and I know a ton of you guys live here as well. I've heard that I70 traffic can be bad and I experienced that for the first time yesterday.

I'm sure it's much worse in the winter, so is there a good time to avoid it on weekends? What time would you recommend heading west from Denver (Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday morining, etc,) and from what I've heard, the only option going back to Denver on a Sunday is to leave before 1 pm, which sucks if that's true.

Thanks guys,

(yes I am new to Ns but I have been lurking for a while)
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Shit suuuckkksss on the weekend but it's fully manageable.

Best bets going up to the mountains are around 3pm on Friday or sometime like 10pm on Friday, then 5am on Saturday or 10am on Saturday. You probably won't hit interstate traffic then. Coming back you'd have to leave at 1pm or 6pm to miss traffic.

That said, it's not necessarily about the traffic on I70. If you figure out where all of the good frontage roads are, you can bypass a really decent chunk of the wait. Even on shitty traffic days, I can make it up to ski in less than 2 hours by taking frontage roads.
 
topic:ChrisHarper said:
I just moved out to Colorado to start college and I know a ton of you guys live here as well. I've heard that I70 traffic can be bad and I experienced that for the first time yesterday.

I'm sure it's much worse in the winter, so is there a good time to avoid it on weekends? What time would you recommend heading west from Denver (Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday morining, etc,) and from what I've heard, the only option going back to Denver on a Sunday is to leave before 1 pm, which sucks if that's true.

Thanks guys,

(yes I am new to Ns but I have been lurking for a while)
Click to expand...

If you find a place to stay then its best to go up friday night. If not than leave super early saturday morning. I'll usually leave Denver at 6am and most the time traffics not bad that early. Any time after 6:30-7:00 and you'll most likely hit traffic. That all depends on if there is an accident or construction on the tunnel going on too, if there is than you'll be stuck in traffic. Most the time I don't find it to be that bad because most the time the traffic starts before the tunnel in Idaho Springs and end once you hit George Town. Going home is a different story though, especially on sundays. If I stay the night up there for the weekend then I only ski half days on sunday to avoid traffic. I'll wait till 6 or 7pm to leave though if Im not off the mountain by 1:30 at the latest.
 
13080559:Piste.Off said:
Leave Denver by 7. Leave the resort by 2:30.
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I live in Evergreen, which is about 40 minutes into the mountains from Denver, and when I leave at 7 I hit terrible traffic. You gotta go wayyy earlier than that to miss it.
 
13080563:gavinrudy said:
I live in Evergreen, which is about 40 minutes into the mountains from Denver, and when I leave at 7 I hit terrible traffic. You gotta go wayyy earlier than that to miss it.
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Seriously? I can count on one hand the number of times I've hit bumper-to-bumper traffic on i70 leaving Denver by 7. Hell I'll leave my house in Fort Collins at 6:30 and get to summit by 8:45 no problem barring no accidents/construction.
 
13080563:gavinrudy said:
I live in Evergreen, which is about 40 minutes into the mountains from Denver, and when I leave at 7 I hit terrible traffic. You gotta go wayyy earlier than that to miss it.
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13080583:Piste.Off said:
Seriously? I can count on one hand the number of times I've hit bumper-to-bumper traffic on i70 leaving Denver by 7. Hell I'll leave my house in Fort Collins at 6:30 and get to summit by 8:45 no problem barring no accidents/construction.
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It's a total crapshoot in my opinion. I've experienced both of your scenarios. I've resolved to always leave by 6 at the latest and wait to eat breakfast until Dillon or Frisco depending on the mountain I'm going to.

But leaving the resort by 2:30 is a must.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. This past Friday, we left Denver a little before 2 and we were in some pretty bad traffic before the tunnel construction in Idaho Springs. Is there usually traffic that early on Fridays or was it just because of the construction?
 
13080641:ChrisHarper said:
Thanks for the responses guys. This past Friday, we left Denver a little before 2 and we were in some pretty bad traffic before the tunnel construction in Idaho Springs. Is there usually traffic that early on Fridays or was it just because of the construction?
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Just because of the construction. It'll be finished by the time that skiing comes around, so it's not something you need to worry about too much.
 
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