Trip Planning
Trip Planning is at the heart of GoI70. Sure, its fun to hop in the car and go. But you get what you get is…pot luck. Know before you go! and your trip will go a lot smoother.
The Trip Planning tab on the GoI70 Control Panel gives travelers some basic tools for planning the next trip to the mountains – turn-by-turn driving directions from Google, current road speeds broken down by highway segment, total corridor delay, and a peak at the conditions that might pertain on a given day during the coming year.
Finally, before you strike out for the mountains, take a look at the home page of this blog. There you will find our best estimate of what travel conditions will be like this coming week. And, if you are curious you can read through our back posts to find all sorts of information that might be of use, or just provide some entertainment.
2 Responses to “Trip Planning”
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Hey you guys. Cool site. I’ve just moved to Denver within the last month and am planning my first ski season. Although I’ve received some useful information from the archives of your blog, it’s been disjointed and lacks a general focus that I need for trip planning. So, I’m going to make a suggestion for the site.
For those like me, those who search for “denver i70 winter conditions skiing” — specifically those who are looking for typical highway delays that will be factored into such decisions as whether to stay at home and drive in (carpooling, of course!) as opposed to renting for a week a place that is close to the slopes –, it would be useful to have a “typical i70 winter delays” page. This assumes that there are always appreciable WB/EB delays throughout the winter.
My question is whether this is true. If I were to travel during the week, am I likely to experience delays (assuming normal weather conditions, whatever those may be)? Is every weekend, historically speaking, likely to produce massive delays? Is EB different from WB? What delay pattern can I expect, especially in the time of winter that concerns me, which is the second half of February?
Thanks for addressing these questions. I am looking forward to this winter and hope to get my first skiing sessions in!
Great suggestion. For your info, winter patterns are generally as follows:
Friday WB – Light to moderate traffic from about 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday WB – Moderate traffic from about 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with the peak around 7:30-8:00 a.m. Sunday morning WB traffic is typically lighter than Saturday morning.
Saturday EB- Traffic builds around 2:30 p.m., peaks around 4:00-5:00 and drops dramatically after 6:00 p.m. Expect heavy congestion. “Leave After 6:00, Home by 8:00.”
Sunday EB - I70 starts to fill up earlier at 1:30 or 2:00 p.m., traffic peaks around 4:00-5:00 and drops off soon after 6:00 pm. Expect very heavy traffic. Remember, “Leave After 6:00, Home by 8:00.”
Bad weather, accidents or holiday weekends can escalate the level of congestion and the time frames dramatically. Fortunately, I70 is congestion free the majority of the time, and traffic is quite predictable. Plan accordingly and avoid the jam!