hehehe...I'll seize the moment to work on my letter....
Dear CDOT,
H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P!
I've kept quiet, biting my tongue while seething amongst 6 miles of parked cars on I-70 this summer, but now must release some pressure because your daftness is REALLY making my whiskers violently twitch.
Throughout the summer, you were busy blasting granite walls that was part of widening the Twin Tunnels located between Denver and Idaho Springs. Remarkably, despite portable lights on generators that turn darkness into daylight parked around the construction site, you elected to blast at premium daytime hours. Yes, I was caught multiple times on Fridays trying to escape the city only to shift into park and turn off the engine with hundreds of other motorists stalled by your temporary road closures. Working off-peak days and times at night a foreign concept? C'mon! And, by the way, my last trip revealed construction was finished with 2 lanes each way through the tunnels, which I also remember being the traffic flow pre-blasting...hmmm.
Oh, silly me, I forgot. The tunnel project was part of the initially budgeted $45 million (received via a state highway fund) band aid to improve the I-70 traffic congestion nightmare by squeezing in an eastbound toll lane on the shoulder of the road. Your forecast on the 13 mile tidbit of highway is to reduce travel time from Eisenhower tunnel to the top of Floyd Hill by 48%. I must ask, did the same forecaster also estimate the budget? I ask because you delved into the private banking sector for a monstrous loan that takes the total cost now to $72 million. My math says that's $27 million over budget! Typical government--the forecaster probably got a gentle pat on the ass and told he/she did a great job and got a raise and told to take the week off for budgeting so swell since the cost is only 60% higher than expected!
Ridiculous.
But, you explain how the toll lane fees will repay the loan. I seriously doubt that happens in my lifetime. I'm beginning to wonder if you are planning another underhanded deal to out of country companies like you did with the Boulder Turnpike? I find it a fair concern.
Anyhow, am I the only one who is cross-eyed about the budgeting? Not to mention that by looking at the big picture, this toll lane is a piss-ant joke to solve moving masses of people to/from the mountains.
Last winter, as commented twice with previous Moustache rants (#4 and #8 if you're interested), other remedies included "metering" with traffic signals, State Troopers "pacing", snowplow "escorts", recommending to travel during off-peak hours, blah blah blah. I recently listened to a Vail valley radio station talk about you guys experimenting with a shuttle bus running from Glenwood Springs to Denver with stops at logical ski resorts. Sounds good, especially if you have a hearty fleet of buses lined up like a mass transit train, but then the next comment floored me. You are going to offer the experimental buses during, unbelievably, weekdays! How can you not be embarrassed by the absurdity?
Unreal. A new director needs to take charge and make this decades old problem a priority because, year by year, it worsens.
In fact, I may be interested in the position. I guarantee my salary expectation is way below the current salary and hundreds of thousands of motorists filled with skiers, snowboarders, hikers and assorted travelers will give a hearty pat on my ass for grabbing the bull for the horns....and I'll reject the associated raise and paid time off as the reward. It's simply how I'm made...
Thanks for listening,
The Moustache
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