Colorado ramblings and musings . . . (Denver, Grand Junction: for sale, mortgage, lenders)

[jazzlover]

I have just finished my third extensive business trip in Colorado in the last 6 weeks. I'll be there (from neighboring Wyoming) again sometime next week. In those three trips, I've covered somewhere between 2,500 and 3,500 miles in the state and have been in 29 of Colorado's 64 counties--most multiple times in the past 6 weeks. Of course, being a Colorado native who has travelled the state for over 50 years, my travels are nothing new--however, I thought that a few current observations might be in order. Here they are:

1. Colorado doesn't just have deteriorating roads, it has deteriorating driving. Traffic law enforcement in most of Colorado is nothing short of pathetic, and drivers know it. Speeding (often 20-30 miles over posted limits) is epidemic. Many drivers ignore or defy even the most sensible driving laws. A great example: Apparently, at least two thirds of drivers in Colorado are illiterate--they can not read or comprehend a five-word phrase with words no longer than two syllables: KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. With driving like I've seen lately, it's no wonder accidents manage to close roads like I-70 with alarming regularity.

Included in the driving insanity are more than a few "professional" truck drivers. Apparently, they got their Commerical Driver's License out of a cereal box. No regulatory agency should be issuing licenses to some of these idiots.

2. Front Range traffic continues to be insane. Interestingly, traffic outside of the I-70 and I-25 corridors seemed to be DOWN from what I would expect in "high summer." I don't have access to any hard data, but my travels indicated that maybe the high fuel prices, collapse of the "housing ATM," or other factors may be keeping some people off of the roads.

3. The pine-beetle and spruce budworm epidemics continue to attack Colorado forests. Areas in Grand, Routt, and Summit Counties look especially ravaged. There, there are huge stands of lodgepole (which like to burn, anyway) that are completely dead. There are some "For Sale" signs starting to sprout in front of some of the second and "trophy" houses in those forested areas. Maybe some of those folks--some already concerned about the "mortgage meltdown"--are sick of seeing brown trees instead of green, or--maybe--are a might bit concerned about their "investment" turning into charred ash. If Colorado doesn't have another "mega-fire" within the next year, it will be a miracle.

4. A wet summer helped Colorado dodge a potentially bad fire season. Tourists coming to Colorado actually saw some pretty green areas this year. Parts of the state I travelled in looked at green as I had ever seen them. Some tourists might think this year to be "normal." It's not. And, of course, the summer rains, as beneficial as they may be, are not what makes up most of Colorado's water supply. That comes from snow--we can only hope for a normal or better snow year. (Wet summers and wet winters often do not follow each other in Colorado.)

5. The "hottest" segment of the Colorado economy is resource extraction--particularly natural gas. Most of the Colorado economy seems to be plodding along, at best. The exception is the energy industry. As a regional center for that activity, it is no surprise that Grand Junction has one of the best local economies in the state right now. The Front Range and resort realtors and mortgage lenders better learn how to be roughnecks.

Enough for now--maybe more after the next trip . . .

[.gif]

yes, this year was definitely the greenest year i've ever seen in denver. it's going to really suck when things get back to normal and everything turns brown again.

the pine beetle epidemic is really depressing. supposedly, the only thing that will kill them is a very long, sustained freeze.

i agree that people do speed a lot, but nothing bugs me more than the people who drive too slow... mostly elderly people.

[sunsprit]

The Colorado left lane hogs have been a persistent problem I've seen since the 1960's. It's not just elderly ... it's a driving habit around here. There's literally hundreds of people every day driving the rolling hills north of Denver on I-25 who can't press on the gas pedal when they climb the hills at 10-15 mph below the posted 75 mph, but see 75 mph on their speedometer on the downhills and think they're doing 75 mph on I-25. Not very consistently ....

I had one of the first BMW's in the state and many folks driving big american sedans (with lots of horsepower) would refuse to yield the left lane to it because ... in their opinion ... that little car wouldn't be able to go any faster than they were driving, about 10-15 below the speed limit, especially on all those wickedly dangerous and intimidating curves heading West on I-70. Many I spoke to later on thought my car was a little different Volksvagen, and they were'nt going to get stuck behind such a low horsepower car in the hills. I'd have to pass them on the right when an opportunity arose ... and then blow past them, much to their astonishment.

I've had many times where I used to watch them try to keep up with me at nothing more than the speed limit on mountain roads or ... my favorite ... on/off ramps at freeway entrances. Their confident smiles turned to terror as they found out they couldn't keep up with that boxy little car. If it had been recognizable to them as a sporting car, like a Porsche or Jag, they wouldn't have tried to keep up with it ....

It was easy to understand where their attitude came from ... it was fostered by selective law enforcement by the CHP and local police departments for many years. Drive a little too fast ... and you'd risk a ticket. Drive obstructing traffic .... and the cops just smiled because that driver in the left hand land was slowing down the traffic flow for them. And, if you were on a motorcycle and passed on the right ... you were guaranteed a litte momento of the event by any officer that witnessed the event, even if you didn't exceed the posted speed limit.

It's taken a long time for the ingrained enforcement culture of the CHP to recognize that the driver obstructing traffic in the left hand lane was a causation of accidents with today's traffic density and flow. For the most part, however, I'm still not seeing drivers that obstruct traffic getting pulled over .... just the highway advisory signs.

Also, I'd mention that we recently took the back roads from North Park down to Vail ... and there's a lot of standing forest hillsides dominated or completely beatle killed forest. The opportunity to clear it out for fire safety is now and little time remains. I expect that when some of those forests get torched by a lightning strike, the resulting fire will be of biblical proportions .... it will adversely affect Colorado's watershed for many years to come, not to mention the immediate damage to structures and infrastructure.

[Charles]

Jazzlover puts a lot of work into his posts. He's obviously an experienced guy posting on these threads. Probably the most historically conscious poster on the Colorado forums.

Personally I love his historical perspective. One of these days I hope to get to his level of Colorado history. I have a long way to go.

In red are my (fun) post-musing musings to his musings.

Originally Posted by jazzlover

1. Colorado doesn't just have deteriorating roads, it has deteriorating driving. Traffic law enforcement in most of Colorado is nothing short of pathetic, and drivers know it. Speeding (often 20-30 miles over posted limits) is epidemic.

This is pretty common on most interstates in the US.

Many drivers ignore or defy even the most sensible driving laws. A great example: Apparently, at least two thirds of drivers in Colorado are illiterate--they can not read or comprehend a five-word phrase with words no longer than two syllables: KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS.

Completely agree. When my wife drives, I tell her the same thing: "You're in the passing lane, could you please move over to the left?", without trying to sound like the obnoxious, male, backseat driver....



3. The pine-beetle and spruce budworm epidemics continue to attack Colorado forests. Areas in Grand, Routt, and Summit Counties look especially ravaged. There, there are huge stands of lodgepole (which like to burn, anyway) that are completely dead.

Is this due in anyway to sprawl?

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

I have just finished my third extensive business trip in Colorado in the last 6 weeks. I'll be there (from neighboring Wyoming) again sometime next week. In those three trips, I've covered somewhere between 2,500 and 3,500 miles in the state and have been in 29 of Colorado's 64 counties--most multiple times in the past 6 weeks. Of course, being a Colorado native who has travelled the state for over 50 years, my travels are nothing new--however, I thought that a few current observations might be in order. Here they are:

1. Colorado doesn't just have deteriorating roads, it has deteriorating driving. Traffic law enforcement in most of Colorado is nothing short of pathetic, and drivers know it. Speeding (often 20-30 miles over posted limits) is epidemic. Many drivers ignore or defy even the most sensible driving laws. A great example: Apparently, at least two thirds of drivers in Colorado are illiterate--they can not read or comprehend a five-word phrase with words no longer than two syllables: KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. With driving like I've seen lately, it's no wonder accidents manage to close roads like I-70 with alarming regularity.

Included in the driving insanity are more than a few "professional" truck drivers. Apparently, they got their Commerical Driver's License out of a cereal box. No regulatory agency should be issuing licenses to some of these idiots.

2. Front Range traffic continues to be insane. Interestingly, traffic outside of the I-70 and I-25 corridors seemed to be DOWN from what I would expect in "high summer." I don't have access to any hard data, but my travels indicated that maybe the high fuel prices, collapse of the "housing ATM," or other factors may be keeping some people off of the roads.

3. The pine-beetle and spruce budworm epidemics continue to attack Colorado forests. Areas in Grand, Routt, and Summit Counties look especially ravaged. There, there are huge stands of lodgepole (which like to burn, anyway) that are completely dead. There are some "For Sale" signs starting to sprout in front of some of the second and "trophy" houses in those forested areas. Maybe some of those folks--some already concerned about the "mortgage meltdown"--are sick of seeing brown trees instead of green, or--maybe--are a might bit concerned about their "investment" turning into charred ash. If Colorado doesn't have another "mega-fire" within the next year, it will be a miracle.

4. A wet summer helped Colorado dodge a potentially bad fire season. Tourists coming to Colorado actually saw some pretty green areas this year. Parts of the state I travelled in looked at green as I had ever seen them. Some tourists might think this year to be "normal." It's not. And, of course, the summer rains, as beneficial as they may be, are not what makes up most of Colorado's water supply. That comes from snow--we can only hope for a normal or better snow year. (Wet summers and wet winters often do not follow each other in Colorado.)

5. The "hottest" segment of the Colorado economy is resource extraction--particularly natural gas. Most of the Colorado economy seems to be plodding along, at best. The exception is the energy industry. As a regional center for that activity, it is no surprise that Grand Junction has one of the best local economies in the state right now. The Front Range and resort realtors and mortgage lenders better learn how to be roughnecks.

Enough for now--maybe more after the next trip . . .

Some of what you said is sooo true it is funny.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by .gif

yes, this year was definitely the greenest year i've ever seen in denver. it's going to really suck when things get back to normal and everything turns brown again.

the pine beetle epidemic is really depressing. supposedly, the only thing that will kill them is a very long, sustained freeze.

i agree that people do speed a lot, but nothing bugs me more than the people who drive too slow... mostly elderly people.

Hold it there buddy, some day that will be YOU!!! But seriously what is slow? Speed limit? And at what age do you become elderly? And when did being elderly become bad or an insult instead of intelligent, experienced and knowing???

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

3. The pine-beetle and spruce budworm epidemics continue to attack Colorado forests. Areas in Grand, Routt, and Summit Counties look especially ravaged. There, there are huge stands of lodgepole (which like to burn, anyway) that are completely dead. There are some "For Sale" signs starting to sprout in front of some of the second and "trophy" houses in those forested areas. Maybe some of those folks--some already concerned about the "mortgage meltdown"--are sick of seeing brown trees instead of green, or--maybe--are a might bit concerned about their "investment" turning into charred ash. If Colorado doesn't have another "mega-fire" within the next year, it will be a miracle.

Environmentalists protesting so vehemently against logging, thinning the forests or controlled burns have really helped get things to this point. Now we have dense, unhealthy forests waiting to go up as soon as we have a really dry summer. It is very sad.

On the bad driving, it seems people like to blame Californians for that. There may be a small bit of truth to that, but I've seen some things with drivers here that I rarely saw while living in San Diego for 16 years.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Charles

Jazzlover puts a lot of work into his posts. He's obviously an experienced guy posting on these threads. Probably the most historically conscious poster on the Colorado forums.

Personally I love his historical perspective. One of these days I hope to get to his level of Colorado history. I have a long way to go.

In red are my (fun) post-musing musings to his musings.

Thank you for the compliment. As to the question as to sprawl contributing to the fire "problem"--I guess you could say it does indirectly. There are basically two proactive things foresters can do to try to stem a beetle epidemic. One is to log out the diseased trees. Admittedly, this has some of its own environmental tradeoffs. Unfortunately, even where it can be done effectively, quite often those second home and trophy house owners oppose it--it disturbs their idealistic view of what their backyard (usually a National Forest that WE all get to pay to maintain) should look like.

The second option is controlled burns. Well, controlled burns don't always go exactly as expected, and when you've got a pile of second homes and trophy houses in the vicinity of the burn--well, uh, **** can happen. Thus, a reluctance on the part of foresters to use that tool in areas with any homes. In today's Colorado, that rules out burning in a lot of places. Of course, left to itself, nature will take care of the problem, probably with a big nasty mega-fire that burns everything in sight. But, hey, that's "natural," right?

[.gif]

Originally Posted by Nadine

Hold it there buddy, some day that will be YOU!!! But seriously what is slow? Speed limit? And at what age do you become elderly? And when did being elderly become bad or an insult instead of intelligent, experienced and knowing???

don't get me wrong, i have nothing but respect for elderly people, but it seems like most of them have poor driving skills. going 15 mph slower than the speed limit (in the left hand lane sometimes) creates a hazard for other drivers. their skills and reflexes have deteriorated with age and they can be a danger to pedestrians and other vehicles on the road. remember the man who plowed through a crowded farmers' market because he became confused? people died because he didn't realize he was hitting the accelerator and not the brake. i heard of another elderly lady who drove her car into a lake, thinking it was a parking lot. she drowned. my parents were driving down I-25 one day and nearly collided with an elderly man who had slowed down to about 15 mph.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by .gif

don't get me wrong, i have nothing but respect for elderly people, but it seems like most of them have poor driving skills. going 15 mph slower than the speed limit (in the left hand lane sometimes) creates a hazard for other drivers. their skills and reflexes have deteriorated with age and they can be a danger to pedestrians and other vehicles on the road. remember the man who plowed through a crowded farmers' market because he became confused? people died because he didn't realize he was hitting the accelerator and not the brake. i heard of another elderly lady who drove her car into a lake, thinking it was a parking lot. she drowned. my parents were driving down I-25 one day and nearly collided with an elderly man who had slowed down to about 15 mph.

For all people complain about this issue, especially the part I bolded, I rarely see this. The problem I see far more of is speeding. And yes, .gif, unless you die young, you too will be old some day.