I70 west out of Denver

RAS43 wrote:

Busskipper wrote:

You might have missed the fact that they have a route just off I-70 to Central City Casinos that goes straight up the mountain. and it is under used as most still like Rt 6.

JMHO,

Busskipper

I know all about Central City Parkway. Nice views there also but I haven't been to Central City/ Blackhawk since gambling started. Not my thing but I do miss the old towns-before gambling. Anyway, you have helped make my point that the traffic thru the canyon is heavy and it is most of the time not just weekends per my friends in the state patrol. Throw in liquor and now pot and it is not a route I'd choose.

Gotta agree with Bob on this. US 6/CO 119 is still the major thoroughfare to the gambling towns of Black Hawk/Central City. Throw in the tour busses as well as traffic that can particularly heavy when there are special promos going on up there, and it's not a pleasant drive. Add in some commercial traffic and it's just as busy as I-70...on just 2 lanes. It's a frequent occurrence that a traffic accident involving some sort of commercial vehicle, falls into Clear Creek and the route is closed for hours. There aren't a lot of alternatives then, if you're stuck there. At least on I-70, by virtue of sheer volume, CSP gets crashes and traffic problems resolved relatively quickly.

I also remember when it was fun to go up there and visit, because they were both funky little towns with a lot of history. Now, seems like a lot of the "history" is the frequent name changes of the casinos!

Busskipper wrote:

You might have missed the fact that they have a route just off I-70 to Central City Casinos that goes straight up the mountain. and it is under used as most still like Rt 6.

JMHO,

Busskipper

I know all about Central City Parkway. Nice views there also but I haven't been to Central City/ Blackhawk since gambling started. Not my thing but I do miss the old towns-before gambling. Anyway, you have helped make my point that the traffic thru the canyon is heavy and it is most of the time not just weekends per my friends in the state patrol. Throw in liquor and now pot and it is not a route I'd choose.

RAS43 wrote:

Busskipper wrote:

Just a thought - we always jump off I-70 at Rt 58 (exit 265?) then take Colorado Rt 6 through the mountains and the tunnels to Exit 244 just before Idaho Springs on I-70, a beautiful drive, we love the tunnels and they are plenty big. Another added bonus is the fact that you miss the long BUSY drive to Idaho Springs on 70.

Once you get comfortable with the Mountains(the down hill part is the only thing that is a real concern) you will find that most of the roads are really well built.BOL,

I do not recommend that route due to the large amount of traffic going to and returning from the casinos in Central City/Blackhawk. There are almost weekly accidents with long delays. Yes, it is pretty but the traffic has ruined it.

Not to be argumentative.

Fridays, late, yes, you might have a point, but we generally are not weekend travelers. We have driven the Rt 6 route with somewhat heavy traffic but all the better to see the beautiful canyon, and the drive along Clear Creek. My son who lived and traveled outside Boulder to Breck and Vail often, was just like you, but he came around, he would always drive the Rt 6, as he found it was faster and just more relaxing than the Bumper to Bumper Crazy drive on I 70.

You might have missed the fact that they have a route just off I-70 to Central City Casinos that goes straight up the mountain. and it is under used as most still like Rt 6.

JMHO,

Busskipper

A beautiful drive, when you get at the state line there is a little town Fruita, take the road south to The Colorado Monument. Beautiful drive. we went through on 70 several timesand didn't know about The Colorado Monument until a lady at Fruita told us about it, well worth the side trip.

Busskipper wrote:

Just a thought - we always jump off I-70 at Rt 58 (exit 265?) then take Colorado Rt 6 through the mountains and the tunnels to Exit 244 just before Idaho Springs on I-70, a beautiful drive, we love the tunnels and they are plenty big. Another added bonus is the fact that you miss the long BUSY drive to Idaho Springs on 70.

Once you get comfortable with the Mountains(the down hill part is the only thing that is a real concern) you will find that most of the roads are really well built.BOL,

I do not recommend that route due to the large amount of traffic going to and returning from the casinos in Central City/Blackhawk. There are almost weekly accidents with long delays. Yes, it is pretty but the traffic has ruined it.

russ1102 wrote:
Give me some input on I70 west out of Denver. I'm towing a 5 ton 5th wheel with a Ford diesel.

Just a thought - we always jump off I-70 at Rt 58 (exit 265?) then take Colorado Rt 6 through the mountains and the tunnels to Exit 244 just before Idaho Springs on I-70, a beautiful drive, we love the tunnels and they are plenty big. Another added bonus is the fact that you miss the long BUSY drive to Idaho Springs on 70.

Once you get comfortable with the Mountains(the down hill part is the only thing that is a real concern) you will find that most of the roads are really well built.

BOL,

I think we can all agree that Friday afternoon is something to avoid if possible.

We have a place just south of Georgetown and travel the road a lot. Its not unusual to find a dozen vehicles of all types and sizes on the side of the road on a hot Friday afternoon before you hit the top of Floyd Hill.

With a big trailer and a hot afternoon, you have to watch the engine temps very closely. Even with a big turbo the grades do take the starch out of acceleration. Don't be surprised if you are near the bottom of your gear range, its just part of the mountain experience.

Thousands of vehicles use the road every hour, its a nice route.

I find the pull out of Denver to be the toughest. Not necessarily steeper than other sections, but certainly the busiest. It's quite a continuous pull for a while. The grades to the tunnel are broken up by lesser grades where you can get your speed back up.

The down grades from the tunnel and from Vail Pass both have seven miles of 7% grades. This is steeper than the normal grades found on interstates and requires one to use appropriate gearing rather than their brakes.

Many, many RV's and semi's use this route every day. As noted avoid Friday afternoons and all day Saturday.

I made sure I was the one driving our Dodge Ram 2500 SB quad cab turbo diesel with a TC when we hit Denver. I wanted to enjoy the drive and not worry that my DH was rubbernecking LOL.

It was no more difficult than any other interstate - just a whole lot more scenic. I enjoyed it.

Going up and out might be the easy part.