Freeway site visitors is busy as of late, however at the very least on a vital stretch of pavement between the Western Slope and the Entrance Vary, not busy sufficient for some.
“We have had some complaints” about ready alongside the Little Blue Creek Canyon stretch of US 50 between Montrose and Gunnison, public data officer Mavis Fitzgerald mentioned.
The four-mile-long freeway, a convoluted route that takes east-west site visitors out of the encircling mesas and into dizzying rock-walled Little Blue, has been below in depth development since final yr. It presents entry to Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nationwide Park, Curecanti Nationwide Recreation Space and, maybe most significantly, for native drivers, another path to the Entrance Vary that doesn’t contain touring on I-70.
After months of practically all-day (and positively in a single day) closures, the route not too long ago reopened to alternate one-way site visitors. “The wait is about 30 minutes to an hour,” Fitzgerald mentioned. “I believe most locals perceive this and we’re grateful for his or her endurance.”
The individuals Fitzgerald and his co-workers have been listening to from “did not check out CoTrips.org,” the state web site that alerts drivers to roadworks, “and did not learn the signage we have posted.” .
For these heading to or getting back from the Entrance Vary, Fitzgerald has some recommendation: arm your self with endurance, notably simply earlier than the weekend.
“Friday afternoons are the worst,” he mentioned. “There’s a whole lot of site visitors between now and Labor Day,” and she or he suspects there will probably be rather less quickly, provided that “spy-sheet season,” as she put it, is a month away.
The challenge is anticipated to be accomplished by subsequent July. Every now and then, besides when development shuts down fully this winter, drivers ought to proceed to plan to alternate single-lane site visitors Monday by Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and full Monday night time closures. to Thursday from 7:00 a.m. :30 p.m. to six:30 a.m.
US 50 is open to two-way site visitors each weekend from 7:30 p.m. Friday to six:30 a.m. Monday, and will probably be absolutely open Labor Day weekend by Tuesday, Could 6. September at eight:30 am Go to cotrips.org to see street situations statewide; For extra data on the US 50 challenge, go to US50Data.com.
BUSTANG MAKING SALT
One consequence of heavy summer time site visitors is elevated air air pollution. The passage of Colorado Senate Invoice 180 created an “ozone season” grant program, which permits transit associations to supply rides at a diminished price, an incentive to depart your automotive within the storage. For native riders on the Bustang Outrider, CDOT’s mode of transportation that goals to attach rural routes to Denver, that is excellent news: By way of September 5, all tickets are 50 p.c off.
Two Bustang routes can be found regionally: One bus makes weekday roundtrips from Telluride to Grand Junction (and from there east to Denver, or wherever your travels take you).
One other bus runs seven days per week from Durango to Grand Junction and again, stopping in Telluride.
“We’re on the brink of begin on some new routes,” mentioned Jeffrey Prillwitz, challenge supervisor for Bustang Outrider. “We’ve some sensors searching for a route between Craig and Rifle to Grand Junction; our new route, from Pagosa Springs to Durango, is already on the desk. In all probability the largest one coming for the Western Slope, the route that has the perfect likelihood” of coming to fruition, “will probably be from Crested Butte and Gunnison to Montrose, as soon as development is completed on US 50.”
To view a schedule and buy tickets, go to ridebustang.com.
