What's your worst Colorado winter driving experience? (Denver, Colorado Springs: military, maintenance)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by steveco.

Ugh that weather map makes me want to cry

Long range forecast for next week has a chance of another big one.

From the horse's mouth (the only real weather report...forecast discussion):

National Weather Service Text Product Display

"WITH GOOD RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY OVR THE PAST COUPLE DAYS...AND
REASONABLE SUPPORT FROM ENSEMBLE RUNS...HAVE HIGH CONFIDENCE THAT
A MAJOR WINTER SYSTEM WILL AFFECT SE CO BEGINNING ON TUE.....BOTTOM LINE...THIS IS A MAJOR SYSTEM AND IT
WILL AFFECT HOLIDAY TRAVEL. IT WILL BE SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE THE DETAILS
BECOME CLEAR ENOUGH TO ACCURATELY PREDICT JUST WHAT IMPACT IT WILL
HAVE. "

[onthamove]

Upslope Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

winter storm for the front range :P
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwww

[MorningGlory]

When I got my new Subaru a couple years ago I assumed it would do great in the snow. I hadn't factored in the absolutely horrid, cheap tires they come with. I was driving my son to school the first day I had it, in one of our many snowstorms with packed snow on our dirt road (mtns). At a sharp turn in the road the entire car started spinning, and did a complete 360 while still propelling forward at the same speed, then decided to behave again right as we were pointing forward, so we just kept on driving down the road! My son thought it was a trick I learned somewhere, he was laughing! I was almost sick!

[steveco.]

Originally Posted by Charles

Long range forecast for next week has a chance of another big one.

From the horse's mouth (the only real weather report...forecast discussion):

National Weather Service Text Product Display

"WITH GOOD RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY OVR THE PAST COUPLE DAYS...AND
REASONABLE SUPPORT FROM ENSEMBLE RUNS...HAVE HIGH CONFIDENCE THAT
A MAJOR WINTER SYSTEM WILL AFFECT SE CO BEGINNING ON TUE.....BOTTOM LINE...THIS IS A MAJOR SYSTEM AND IT
WILL AFFECT HOLIDAY TRAVEL. IT WILL BE SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE THE DETAILS
BECOME CLEAR ENOUGH TO ACCURATELY PREDICT JUST WHAT IMPACT IT WILL
HAVE. "

Better stock up now! I'll get all the frozen pizza's I can get my hands on somebody else get all the beers they can find and we'll all hunker down over at charles place!

[mdp_az]

Well, for as terrifying as winter driving in Colorado can be, it is nothing compared to winter driving in Wyoming. When I lived in Fort Collins, I had a sales territory that stretched well into Wyoming and western Nebraska. Due to the low population and vast highways in WY, they generally only clear one lane on the interstate...its just not economically sensible to clear both. This creates some serious white-knuckle driving when its snowing, the wind is howling (as it always is in SE Wyoming, and you are trying to keep pointing straight ahead. And I had the good pleasure of doing this in a Taurus with no snow tires...not fun! The combination of snow and wind up there sent so many cars into the median sometimes it was frightening.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by mdp_az

Well, for as terrifying as winter driving in Colorado can be, it is nothing compared to winter driving in Wyoming. When I lived in Fort Collins, I had a sales territory that stretched well into Wyoming and western Nebraska. Due to the low population and vast highways in WY, they generally only clear one lane on the interstate...its just not economically sensible to clear both. This creates some serious white-knuckle driving when its snowing, the wind is howling (as it always is in SE Wyoming, and you are trying to keep pointing straight ahead. And I had the good pleasure of doing this in a Taurus with no snow tires...not fun! The combination of snow and wind up there sent so many cars into the median sometimes it was frightening.

I wasn't going to relate any Wyoming winter driving adventures on the Colorado thread, but you are right--it can be interesting. In my years of living in Wyoming, I would say the Wyoming highways are generally kept in better condition than Colorado roads during the winter--a lot of times the snow just plain blows off of them. Blizzarding is the main problem--once you've been in a real Wyoming blizzard, nothing much else compares, except maybe a Dakota or Montana blizzard where temperatures can drop to deadly levels along with the blizzard conditions.

The long distances between towns and the general lack of traffic (except on I-80 which is always a hornet's nest of big trucks) makes driving for dozens if not a hundred miles or more of blizzard a daunting and lonely experience. Several times I have done that, sometimes driving literally from delineator post to delineator post for many miles. Getting to a town--even it's only 50 people with one gas station and a dumpy motel is a huge relief. Quite honestly, most non-Wyoming folks are not psychologically prepared for that kind of challenge. I always carried my winter survival kit with me, so I could survive spending some "quality time" (overnight or more) in the car if I had to. Most Wyomingites who travel much at all around the state in the winter have gotten to "enjoy" that experience at least once.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

I wasn't going to relate any Wyoming winter driving adventures on the Colorado thread, but you are right--it can be interesting. In my years of living in Wyoming, I would say the Wyoming highways are generally kept in better condition than Colorado roads during the winter--a lot of times the snow just plain blows off of them. Blizzarding is the main problem--once you've been in a real Wyoming blizzard, nothing much else compares, except maybe a Dakota or Montana blizzard where temperatures can drop to deadly levels along with the blizzard conditions.

The long distances between towns and the general lack of traffic (except on I-80 which is always a hornet's nest of big trucks) makes driving for dozens if not a hundred miles or more of blizzard a daunting and lonely experience. Several times I have done that, sometimes driving literally from delineator post to delineator post for many miles. Getting to a town--even it's only 50 people with one gas station and a dumpy motel is a huge relief. Quite honestly, most non-Wyoming folks are not psychologically prepared for that kind of challenge. I always carried my winter survival kit with me, so I could survive spending some "quality time" (overnight or more) in the car if I had to. Most Wyomingites who travel much at all around the state in the winter have gotten to "enjoy" that experience at least once.

Three Coloradans died in a fatal accident on I-80 in Wyoming yesterday. http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007...80-in-wyoming/
Be careful out there everyone.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by suzco

Three Coloradans died in a fatal accident on I-80 in Wyoming yesterday. http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007...80-in-wyoming/
Be careful out there everyone.

That accident was a real tragedy. One of the particular hazards on I-80 can be a deadly mixture of cars and heavy trucks. Quite often, the trucks outnumber the cars on the highway. When a 3,000 lb. or 4,000 pound car tangles up with an 80,000 pound truck, the car (and its occupants) are going to lose just about every time.

This country would be a lot better off in highway safety, fuel conservation, and saved tax monies if a concerted public/private effort was made to move most long-haul freight cartage back onto the railroads--where it belongs. Long-haul trucking, while somewhat more time-efficient, is imposing more costs--taxes, energy, safety--than we can afford. Unfortunately, the trucking and highway lobbies continue to brainwash the American people and their leaders into continuing to fund and tolerate a transportation mode that is increasingly inefficient, costly, and dangerous. At the very least, we should quit subsidizing trucks. If we had done that a long time ago, maybe that truck wouldn't have been on I-80 yesterday, and a good Colorado family would be spending the holidays with their family instead of at the morgue.

[CosmicWizard]

jazzlover wrote:

This country would be a lot better off in highway safety, fuel conservation, and saved tax monies if a concerted public/private effort was made to move most long-haul freight cartage back onto the railroads--where it belongs.

AMEM to that!

blessings...Franco

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

That accident was a real tragedy.... This country would be a lot better off in highway safety, fuel conservation, and saved tax monies if a concerted public/private effort was made to move most long-haul freight cartage back onto the railroads--where it belongs. Long-haul trucking, while somewhat more time-efficient, is imposing more costs--taxes, energy, safety--than we can afford. Unfortunately, the trucking and highway lobbies continue to brainwash the American people and their leaders into continuing to fund and tolerate a transportation mode that is increasingly inefficient, costly, and dangerous. At the very least, we should quit subsidizing trucks. If we had done that a long time ago, maybe that truck wouldn't have been on I-80 yesterday, and a good Colorado family would be spending the holidays with their family instead of at the morgue.

Amen. Having spent a career in the freight traffic business, to include military strategic mobility and transportability, I couldn't have said it any better than you did. That superslab highway "they" want to build is a terrible idea - it should be built as a 4-track, high speed, grade separated, super railroad.

My "vision" for this super RR would see it run from El Paso, passing near the population centers of NM, parallel the Front Range (10-25 miles east) and go on north. North of I-80 would be two tracks up to I-94. A true network that would not only get trucks off the roads, but cars too. Powered by electricity that could be made right here via nukes or coal. There'd be blocks of land set aside along the RR for the sort of huge postal concentration centers that the USPS likes to build, and for UPS/freight distribution hubs. Much of the trucking business would morph into using standard containerized boxes that can be lifted off anywhere along the way for local pickup/delivery. Truck drivers would shift to more of a local haulage workforce and be home with their families every night like they should be. Main corridor passenger trains would run at 150+ MPH and connect to light rail feeder lines running east/west from the RR to cities & airports along the way (e.g., Pueblo, Fort Carson/airport, Monument, Castle Rock, Centennial, etc, 2-3 for Denver metro, DIA, Greeley, Boulder, Fort Collins, all the way to Cheyenne - I'm sure I missed a few). That is the sort of future I'd like to see. We need to build this nation for the next century or two, with an eye away from the current petroleum-based lifestyle. Too bad our leaders can't seem to look any further out than the next election, or the next 90-day quarter like those "genius" Wall Street dudes. I think America has a future, and we should be willing to pay a bit more in taxes to assure a great future, rather than continue being slaves to the oil and auto lobbies. Tell ya the truth, when I looked at retirement, having lived/worked for 30 years in that murderous auto gridlock called northern Virginia, central Europe (GE/FR) sure looked awfully good to me.....

But I'm dreaming to think that in what's left of my lifetime we'll ever see a multi-state and Federal co-ordinated, cohesive, comprehensive, deliberate scheme for national transport, designed to serve the needs of the PEOPLE and the NATION, that is forward looking, based on science and rational thought, and maximizes efficiency of land and resources. No wonder I drink....