If you’ve tried to drive to Vail (or home again) on any busy winter weekend, you know that traffic is a real issue. You’ve got to know this concern is becoming big time when the politicians start jumping onto the issue.
Under a proposed plan by Colorado State Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver), weekend skiers could be charged as much as $12 per one-way trip for using I-70 between the hours of 6:30 am and 8:30 am on Saturdays and Sundays. Nothing was published about timing of the return trip. Obviously all the details of the proposal have not seen the light of day. Romer says his plan could reduce “rush hours” traffic by 10%.
Romer’s plan also specifies that those who sign up to miss the rush hours would get a rebate check in the mail for $24 just for waiting out the traffic. It will be interesting to see how Romer plans to administer this angle.
Reaction, far from mixed, has been centered around the fear that skiers would “just say no” and stay home to watch football. Buzz Schleper, owner of Buzz’s Ski Shop in Vail Village: “It would kill the ski industry. You can’t tax skiers extra - they will just stop coming. We’d be the laughing stock of the entire ski industry”. Furthermore, there was no mention of how the revenues collected from this endeavor would be spent (assuming they didn’t all go to paying for the “rebates for those who signed up to miss the rush”). Note: I’ll be happy to sign up for that rebate every Saturday and Sunday from now on!
It’s my feeling that essentially turning I-70 into a toll road could be justified as long as 1) Everyone who used the highway paid a fee - truckers and folks just driving to Grandma’s house included - and 2) The collected funds were used to fund a new high speed rail system from DIA to Eagle County Airport. Only through biting the bullet and embracing the need for a new solution to the traffic problem are we ever going to get a handle on it.
