A traffic mess in Moab

Rice wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
We generally avoid Moab as much as possible anyway, Ugly town

Polite people keep those thoughts to themselves.

In this context, yes. But if someone were asking for opinions on Moab, I would think opinions like this would be germane.

I'm still wondering if the traffic the OP reported might have been related to an event, and not reflective of what it's going to be like there every day from now until the project is finished.

Seems like there's always some event in Moab, but there wasn't any of the big ones like the Easter Jeep Safari or the Car Show. Besides, this was every day all week. We know of three other families who were out in Moab the week before we were and had the same issues. All three bailed and came home early. (Yeah, I'm stubborn and stuck it out - besides we didn't get to camp in Moab all spring) Talking with the locals I know or I met on the trail, they all said they'd never seen any backups like they'd had since the construction started. When I took one of our bikes into a shop in town for repair, he had me wait while he fixed it as he didn't want me to have to come back into town to pick the bike up later.

Will traffic backups get shorter? Sure. As we get into winter visitation drops quite a bit. Cold temps and snowy wet trails tends to keep people away. But unless they change things up with regard to how they are handling the traffic, next spring could be another fiasco. I don't know what their plans are for how detours and lane closures are scheduled, but for those planning a trip out there next March or April, I'd recommend getting some local insight as to whether things have improved or not before heading out.

Rice wrote:
In this context, yes. But if someone were asking for opinions on Moab, I would think opinions like this would be germane.

This is Roads & Routes. Nobody asked if he thinks the town is ugly or not. An ugly pothole would be germane though.

dedmiston wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
We generally avoid Moab as much as possible anyway, Ugly town

Polite people keep those thoughts to themselves.

In this context, yes. But if someone were asking for opinions on Moab, I would think opinions like this would be germane.

I'm still wondering if the traffic the OP reported might have been related to an event, and not reflective of what it's going to be like there every day from now until the project is finished.

agesilaus wrote:
We generally avoid Moab as much as possible anyway, Ugly town

Polite people keep those thoughts to themselves.

I've been to Moab twice. In 88 we drove in on 191, and after a brief stop at the visitor center visited Arches. We used BLM campgrounds on the river. Even when going up to Island In The Sky I bypassed most of 191, using Shafer Trail and Long Canyon.

In the mid 2000s I skipped 191 north of the river entirely, going directly to Dead Horse Pt for camping, and down Long Canyon (under the newish bolder). After a brief stop in town for lunch and groceries, I took 128 to Castle Valley and looped around town via the La Sal Mtns.

Admittedly both trips were in small campers (by RV.NET standards) - a 4x4 pickup with popup camper shell, and a CuteUte (with RT4WD).

When complaining about how ugly the town is, keep in mind that there have only been two businesses there - mining and tourists. Most of the roads/tracks originated with uranium prospectors, and pretty potash ponds are only remaining industry. And tourists come to sightsee and play outside of town.

Yes, but three cheers to UT’s Dept of Transportation for improving their highways.

Wasn't there some sort of big jeep event there last week?