Commute from Erie(Vista Ridge) to Greenwood Village (Denver, Aurora: home, university)

[matt36887]

I was wondering if anyone could let me know how the commute would be from Erie (vista ridge) to Greenwood Village? at 7 am? 5 pm? How long?

[2bindenver]

horrible. you have to go through Denver.

[matt36887]

I realize that it would not be a fun commute, but would it be 1 hr or 2hrs

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by matt36887

I realize that it would not be a fun commute, but would it be 1 hr or 2hrs

yes. an hour and 15 + whatever you run into.

[vegaspilgrim]

I'm assuming the job is somewhere in the Denver Tech center, and you're asking about Erie because of the low home prices there. ugghh... that commute will be a killer. I think living in Parker, Castle Rock, or even Southeast Aurora, which also have many affordable areas, would be a much better choice than Erie if you're working on the south side of town.

[matt36887]

The thing is my girlfriend would maybe still be working in loveland right of I-25. So we were looking at somewhere in the middle.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by matt36887

The thing is my girlfriend would maybe still be working in loveland right of I-25. So we were looking at somewhere in the middle.

I would look for something a bit farther south. She is coming out ahead on this one.

[sunsprit]

When I left Erie (Hwy 52 at I-25 just inside the Weld county line) in 1999, it was over an hour to get to Downtown Denver in good weather.

You're looking at commuting all the way through Denver to the South side during prime rush hours, and it will take much longer to get there. The Colorado Blvd, University Blvd ramps of I-25 ... all the way down through Hampden ave can be very problematic due to the ramps not having the capacity to handle the traffic off of -25.

With the traffic density today, all it takes is a little glitch in the traffic flow ... adverse weather, a minor fender bender accident ... will all pile the traffic beginning on the North side of Denver ... as far North as 120th/I-25. Typically, that traffic will be stop and go until you reach Central Denver ... it's not the distance that's the problem, it's the time in traffic.

You can make this commute much more reasonably if you'll leave Erie by 5:30AM and return before 2PM (with the exception of early rush hour traffic on some Friday afternoons). The trick heading Northbound is to be past I-25 at I-70 before 3PM.

I got there today at 3:15PM and the right hand lanes on I-25 trying to jockey for the I-70 and other ramps there was already backed up and bumper to bumper ... not quite stop and go, but almost that slow for 3 lanes of I-25.

Good advice above to be closer to Denver would be a more equitable split of the commute as the drive North in the AM would be counter to the main flow of traffic.

[steveco.]

They just did a major expansion of those interchanges since 99 with the t-rex project but traffic is still pretty ugly through the area. I just hope you like spending time in the car cause thats a long journey

[sunsprit]

steveco ... even though I moved from Erie in 1999 ... when I got fed up with the traffic and development in my area .... I still drive into Denver and surrounds fairly frequently.

Like, for example ... TODAY ... after I called on clients down by Centennial Airport.

And the traffic TODAY was exactly as I described. The TREX improvements of I-25 helped a bit to alleviate the severe traffic jams of a few years ago, but those improvements were way too little to restore sanity and good traffic flow to I-25 during peak traffic hours.