by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
Glenwood Canyon’s Hanging Lake Tunnels are modern engineering marvels, completed in 1991 at a cost of $75 million. They are three-quarters of a mile long and house a parking area for maintenance vehicles and a space-age command center that monitors cameras, operates variable message signs and alters traffic patterns with the flip of a switch. They are among the state’s prize possessions, with one other absolutely crucial function.
Cone storage. You see, the Colorado Department of Transportation and its contractors have so many orange traffic cones — $15 a piece — that there is no place to store them. So, workers string them along highways across the state until they are needed. The best storage locations are tunnels, of course, since they keep the cones from getting wet.
I know people get frustrated about the seemingly continuous lane closures, work zones and lower speed limits, especially on Interstate 70. Some have even called for the resignation of CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew, citing the hours of wasted time caused by traffic delays. That is totally unfair. If people understood CDOT’s world, they would happily accept the extra hours.
Before I-70, the trip from Grand Junction to Denver averaged six hours. After its completion, that trip was shortened to an average of 3½ hours. Today after years of hard work, CDOT has finally expanded it back to six hours for many people. What an achievement! During Glenwood Canyon construction in the 1980s, we usually got to stop for a half hour to admire the scenery. Now we can often do that again instead of just speeding by.
