Million Dollar Highway, aka US-550 (Denver, Durango: for sale, 2015, amusement park)

[CosmicWizard]

lhafer wrote: ....and didn't care about the fast ass cars behind me.

You are the kind of dangerous driver that scares the livin bejeesus out of me. A good driver is concerned about EVERY driver in their vicinity, regardless of their speed. Not only is this a dangerous attitude, but an extremely discourteous one. In some states it is the law for slow drivers to pull over and allow other drivers to pass. Colorado is negligent in that regard, thereby encouraging dangerous, discourteous drivers such as yourself. Unfortunately their are many drivers on the Colorado highways just like you.

Like you, I prefer to drive slowly and cautiously on highways such as this, but, I gladly pull over to allow drivers behind me to get by. Seeing a line of cars behind me is rather unnerving. Chances are extremely high that one or more of them is getting hot under the collar, and rapidly approaching the breaking point where they do something really stupid to cause an accident.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Thinking back, Jazzlover, I don't recall anywhere that you can "pull off" until you get to Coal Bank Pass. There is no shame in going slow on those roads. Once in a while some hot-shot who just *has* to go 45 in a 20 mile zone goes flying happily off the side. Just because he is just too darn MACHO to go the speed limit.

20yrsinBranson

Considering that I've driven that road probably over a thousand times, I can safely say that there are numerous turnouts all the way from Ouray to Durango. In my days of pulling heavy trailers over that road, I used all of them to let faster traffic pass. I would agree that on mountain roads people who exceed the speed limits are a hazard, but so are the people who drive UNDER the speed limit and who refuse to yield to faster traffic. Particularly aggravating are the flatland fools who drive 10 mph on the curves then jackrabbit to 10 mph over the speed limit on the straight-aways--effectively impeding traffic and creating a passing hazard where they could be overtaken. The other real aggravation is that many tourists do not respect that there are plenty of local residents (like me) who ARE NOT tourists on these roads--they have to travel them (often on a schedule) and don't have the luxury of dawdling along at 20 mph under the speed limit. As an example, not long ago I had to make a business-required 600 mile roundtrip in one day--including driving the Million Dollar Highway for its full-length--twice in that day. Fortunately, I hit it very early in the morning on one leg, which made it somewhat bearable from a traffic standpoint.

[lhafer]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

lhafer wrote: ....and didn't care about the fast ass cars behind me.

You are the kind of dangerous driver that scares the livin bejeesus out of me. A good driver is concerned about EVERY driver in their vicinity, regardless of their speed. Not only is this a dangerous attitude, but an extremely discourteous one. In some states it is the law for slow drivers to pull over and allow other drivers to pass. Colorado is negligent in that regard, thereby encouraging dangerous, discourteous drivers such as yourself. Unfortunately their are many drivers on the Colorado highways just like you.

Like you, I prefer to drive slowly and cautiously on highways such as this, but, I gladly pull over to allow drivers behind me to get by. Seeing a line of cars behind me is rather unnerving. Chances are extremely high that one or more of them is getting hot under the collar, and rapidly approaching the breaking point where they do something really stupid to cause an accident.

Jazzlover - Thanks for thinking I'm a discourteous driver - since you were obviously there, in the car with me, or behind my car knowing how fast (or slow) I was going. I did happen to pull over when given the opportunity to let others pass if they wanted to (which sometimes they did, and other times no one else passed me - so I guess I was zipping along fast enough for them). I did happen to go the speed limit - NOT under it, and not much over it on the mountain passes. I did not endanger ANYONE else - my family or anyone else's. I didn't freeze up in the middle of the road and require assistance to get my vehicle moving. I simply drove carefully, and focused on driving.

[Rogarven]

[quote=jazzlover;30373479]Considering that I've driven that road probably over a thousand times, I can safely say that there are numerous turnouts all the way from Ouray to Durango. In my days of pulling heavy trailers over that road, I used all of them to let faster traffic pass.

Jazzlover, are the turnouts big enough to stop and take pics? I am glad to hear that there are turnouts. I have driven mountain roads before but this is the first time for US550. Took the train to Silverton the last time.

[jazzlover]

[quote=Rogarven;30419471]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Considering that I've driven that road probably over a thousand times, I can safely say that there are numerous turnouts all the way from Ouray to Durango. In my days of pulling heavy trailers over that road, I used all of them to let faster traffic pass.

Jazzlover, are the turnouts big enough to stop and take pics? I am glad to hear that there are turnouts. I have driven mountain roads before but this is the first time for US550. Took the train to Silverton the last time.

Yes, most are.

[Rogarven]

I thought I would report back about our trip and driving over US550. It really was not that big of a deal, even in my '05 DeVille. The traffic was not bad either northbound( where we were traveling) or southbound. It took us about 2 hours from Durango to Ouray and that was with a stop in Silverton to use the restrooms at the visitors center and driving around Silverton. It was a beautiful day with scattered clouds. I have driven on just as windy roads from Sedona to Jerome and into Cottonwood, AZ. And the highway from Hillsborough to Silver City in NM is even more curvy and goes down to one lane, no stripes! Really, "million dollar highway" is a very pleasant ride with wonderful scenery. We took a Jeep tour up to the timberline and got some wonderful pics. And the hot springs in Ouray was great, I went 3 separate times and was the oldest to go down the slide!! Most "slidees" were young enough to be my grandchildren. LOL Finished off with driving to Ridgway for breakfast at the Solar Resort and Spa and then through Gunnison and down to Alamosa. Very nice time. COL is beautiful!

[CosmicWizard]

^^^^Actually, the road over Mingus Mountain requires slower driving than US 550, though it lacks the thousand foot drop-offs and the fabulous scenery, and the drive over Mingus Mountain occurs at a considerably lower elevation!

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by Rogarven

I thought I would report back about our trip and driving over US550. It really was not that big of a deal, even in my '05 DeVille. The traffic was not bad either northbound( where we were traveling) or southbound. It took us about 2 hours from Durango to Ouray and that was with a stop in Silverton to use the restrooms at the visitors center and driving around Silverton. It was a beautiful day with scattered clouds. I have driven on just as windy roads from Sedona to Jerome and into Cottonwood, AZ. And the highway from Hillsborough to Silver City in NM is even more curvy and goes down to one lane, no stripes! Really, "million dollar highway" is a very pleasant ride with wonderful scenery. We took a Jeep tour up to the timberline and got some wonderful pics. And the hot springs in Ouray was great, I went 3 separate times and was the oldest to go down the slide!! Most "slidees" were young enough to be my grandchildren. LOL Finished off with driving to Ridgway for breakfast at the Solar Resort and Spa and then through Gunnison and down to Alamosa. Very nice time. COL is beautiful!

Could you tell us a little about the jeep tour you took?

[Rogarven]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

Could you tell us a little about the jeep tour you took?

It was the San Juan Jeep Tours ( google them) in the Western Hotel and we did the half day to Yankee Boy Basin ( ?) which was just enough for us. They have the Imogene tours and other full day tours to Telluride but that was more than we wanted. It is a Dodge Ram 250 with seating for 12 and 2 in the the cab. It is really nice to let someone else dry while you can look. On the "road" , there were individual rented jeeps but I would really be nervous about renting a jeep and driving that. Some private 4 wheel drive vehicles including a FJ club that were driving up there. I even saw a Corolla ( probably rented ) at the beginning of the road. I doubt they got very far. LOL The guide was very helpful. We were glad we did it. All day to Telluride would be fun but it really was more than we wanted.

[otterprods]

The times I have driven the $1m Hwy. was in my 23' motorhome, so I have been unable to go anywhere near the speed limit on the way up. I also use a low gear on the way down to prevent burnout which keeps me under the speed limit on the straights. I use the pullouts whenever there is someone behind me but I don't ditch it over to a thin shoulder just because some fool is being impatient. Most drivers seem to understand that I'm going as fast as I safely can and are pretty courteous. But there are alway a few drivers that can't wait for the next pullout or even a passing lane and will pass me on a blind curve, endangering everyone greatly.

The worst I ever saw was going over Loveland pass in the winter in my Subaru wagon. It was very windy, low visibility, with areas of heavy blowing snow. We were all going 25-35 mph because the conditions were so very treacherous. Then along comes this little front-wheel-drive sedan full of idiot kids trying to speed past everyone and passes me over the 2x yellow line on a really tight curve with little visibility and no traction. He somehow made it and continued passing others as fast as he could. How do I know the car was full of idiot kids? Because we finally made it to the Keystone ski area, and there they were, in the space right next to us, still trying to get their low-hanging snowpants on. I suppose they think they were really clever because they beat me in by one car length. I wanted to say something, to scold them or administer spank-downs, but they probably would have just been obstinate and obnoxious about it. Unfortunately, people like that won't learn until AFTER something really tragic happens. I don't feel so bad for them as I do for their families and the people they might someday kill.