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Feds sign off on hard-fought I-70 plan, but fixes still years away
By David O. Williams |
06.17.11 | 7:27 am
The seemingly endless studying of what ails the Interstate 70 corridor between Denver and Colorado’s mountain resort communities has started feeling a bit like the snarled driving nightmare common on mid-winter Sunday afternoons. The process inches forward at a glacial rate as the traffic just keeps building. But state and federal regulators seem buoyed by achieving at least one milestone on Thursday, as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Interstate 70 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).
Ludwig Kurz, former Vail mayor and current director of community relations for nearby Beaver Creek resort, would like to see people in ski boots and goggles wandering the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.
The battle lines drawn over a proposed toll on Interstate 70 into Colorado’s high country are much more than mere Western-Slope-versus-Front-Range wrangling. The debate is also being framed along the lines of mass transit proponents versus highway expansionists.
Kaye Ferry, the outspoken and sometimes controversial executive director of the Vail Chamber and Business Association, has resigned in the wake of comments to Colorado Confidential last week in which 
Vail Chamber director Kaye Ferry says Front Range ‘riff-raff’ will cause more parking, traffic and skier-safety problems because of Vail Resorts’ new $579 Epic Pass.
