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Ski train only solution, expert says

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 28, 2008 at 4:16 p.m.
Updated January 28, 2008 at 4:16 p.m.

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A $5 billion high-speed train is the only way to unclog Interstate 70's weekend ski traffic, the man who spent seven years studying the problem said Monday.

Nothing else - from Sen. Chris Romer's congestion-based pricing idea to a $4 billion plan to "six-lane" the highway - will come close to solving the problem, said Miller Hudson, former executive director of the Intermountain Fixed Guideway Authority.

"The problem is, everyone thinks they're an expert on transportation because they drive," Hudson said. "But just because you drive doesn't make you an expert."

Lawmakers established the authority in 1998 in hopes of moving traffic faster up and down the mountain. The authority disbanded in 2004, and its written recommendations have collected dust on a shelf ever since.

The problem with Romer's plan is that even if it accomplishes the Denver Democrat's stated goal of thinning rush-hour traffic by 10 to 15 percent, skier traffic will still hover around 2005 levels. That's because the rush-hour crunch has been snowballing at 6 percent to 7 percent per year, Hudson said.

"The problem is much, much more severe than people realize," Hudson said. "What's going to have to happen if we're going to solve this long-term is we're going to have to bite the bullet and put a high-speed train on the corridor."

The train's route would cover from Denver International Airport to Vail. It would depend on a 60 percent private investment and 40 percent public support.

To get started, the state would have to spend about $4.5 million on a "bond quality ridership study," which would prove its worth as a private investment.

Then state leaders would have to go to Washington and convince the Federal Highway Administration that investing $2 billion in a ski train would prevent the need for spending twice that much expanding I-70 in the near future, Hudson said.

Comments

  • January 28, 2008

    4:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mstar71 writes:

    Never going to happen in a million years.

  • January 28, 2008

    4:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    KKB writes:

    Alas, a "real" solution to the ever worsening I-70 parking lot. The mere idea of charging a toll to the "ski" traffic during certain hours of the day is ridiculous. How to even track who is going where and when would be insanity.

    It is clear that the author of the above article understands the current needs of the State as well as perserving any hopes of a less painful future for I-70 and its' travelers.

    Let's hope Mr. Romer did not spend much of the taxpayers dollars coming up with the flawed, dare I say, stupid idea of toll charging I-70 travel. With logic like that, Mr. Romer should not be a part of any committee anywhere designed to improve anything for the State of Colorado.

  • January 28, 2008

    5:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Amy writes:

    I for one, don't want to pay $200 for my family to take a train up skiing for a day (I'm guessing at the cost but the Winter Park train is prohibitively high for a family); and then not have my car to go out to dinner, to the movies, or whatever. Nope, I want my own car. Until they widen I-70 the only traffic avoidance plan I know of is bite the bullet and buy a condo up there. Then you can go up late Friday night and come home late Sunday night and avoid the traffic (and get a little capital appreciation and tax deduction to boot).

  • January 28, 2008

    5:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    RainbowWarrior writes:

    If we had not moved on Light Rail in the Metro area, and kept it's expansion going, Denver would not be considered a World Class City today. A train or Monorail is the best solution for the future. Can you imagine the delays while expansion to 6 lanes on I-70 would create? Tourism is a big part of our economy, just think how that would expand if visitors could catch a train to Summit County from DIA and be there in an hour. I think that 60% private investment could be raised by the resorts in short time, as the return on their investment would be huge. It would also be a Green solution that would improve the quality of life along the I-70 corridor for locals too.

  • January 28, 2008

    6:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    windbourne writes:

    The current ski train is a pure private venture and does cost an arm and a leg. The reason is that it is treated as a single day trip type operation which makes the equipment VERY expensive.

    OTH, if we build a high-speed train from DIA to Vail (though I think that it should go further) with stops along the way, it would not only cover the ski traffic, but much of the casino traffic. In addition, it would allow those who currently live in the mountains to come down via train rather than cars. If this is done right, I think that it would remove far more than 5-10% of the traffic, but more like 30-50%. The key to this is that the train has to be high speed (average of 100 miles/hr). If ppl have to pay money to sit in a train for the same length of time, they will take their car. But if ski trains can make vail in an hour, winter park in 45, A-basin in 50, etc, you will see LOADS of ppl give up driving.
    It will also make it possible for the local hotels who are full in the summer to be used year around AS will the hotels in the mountains. Finally, even at night, this train could be used to bring up cargo to the ski areas. IOW, it becomes a cheaper form of shipping and will allow I-70 to be used for more trans colorado.

  • January 28, 2008

    6:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    cacdean writes:

    At least this is addressing the root cause and not just throwing a bandaid and new tax from the Democrats at the problem. The rush hour fee provides no long term solution to the problem, just more money out of our pockets with no clear destination for the money collected.

  • January 31, 2008

    11:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Fireball writes:

    We need a year round solution more than just a "ski train". It would be feasible to run a ski train up and down I-70 to transportation hubs with busses to each ski area. Great, but what do you do in the summer? There are so many varied users: Shoppers, sight-seeing, hikers, campers, kayakers, mountain bikers, fishermen, hang gliding and paragliding, picnicing, and the rest. How do these people get to their final destinations, with their gear, without a car or truck? Give us the extra lanes, as well as additional climb lanes for the big rigs.

  • February 1, 2008

    7:22 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dribitbucket writes:

    This Democrat thinks that Democrat's idea of an I-70 toll is nothing more than ill timed flatulence. Once it was out there, it was quickly realized that it smelled pretty bad.

    The [fast] ski train is an AWESOME idea and I think we've talked about it ENOUGH. Time to move on it because when you tie it into the light rail that is already going to be done, you have the potential of removing cars not just from the I-70 mountain corridor, but also around the metro area getting to I-70 rail stops. Bonus: Think of how many people flying into DIA that _wouldn't_ drive I-70?! Bonus: Think of how many people would ride the train up in a snow storm and expend money on products and services that they wouldn't normally do because the roads are bad? I'll spell it out for you: additional tax revenues to help offset the cost of the initial build-out.

    HOWEVER, it can't be super expensive. You have to be competitive with the cost of $30 for gas for a car of 4 people in a larger vehicle (4 people plus gear = larger vehicle). Much more than $10 per person per ticket is pushing it for those scenarios.

  • February 18, 2008

    6:08 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mstar71 writes:

    Based on personal experience, there are two spikes in traffic on I-70 during winter: 7 am - 11 am on Sat morning and 2 pm - 6 pm on Sunday night. Other than that, there is no traffic from Denver to Vail. With a $5B price tag for a train up the corridor, you simple can't justify it economically. The cost per person or family would be astronomical. Adding one 3+ person HOV lane both ways seems like the only plausible solution to me.