Fort Collins traffic vs Denver Traffic

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Thoreau424

I really don't see/get this notion of traffic in FC. Maybe from the view and perspective of long-timers (i.e StealthRabbit). But go to Denver and sit on the interstates and you'll see a huge difference. At least in FC, you can just get off on a side street and go your merry way. Just look at both towns using Google Maps in aerial view. Keep it on the same scale. The difference in roads, sense of scale, and huge presence of freeways in Denver, will be unmistakeable. You don't even have to get on the interstate in FC; 'all-street' driving is possible.

The issue is that you are comparing a very busy thoroughfare to city streets. I can travel all over Denver and never touch the pavement on an interstate, but can get to the interstate from pretty much anywhere in the metro area, and many large thoroughfares that can get me from one end of Denver to another very quickly compared to Fort Collins.

I lived 7 miles from the nearest on ramp to I-25 when I lived in Fort Collins, it was normal to take 30 minutes to drive those 7 miles. We planned on it when headed out of town for functions or work. Think about that for a minute, that is an average of 14 mph and that was what we considered normal traffic. I have never taken 30 minutes to get 7 miles on Denver city streets, and it has only happened a handful of times on any of the interstates.

The problem is deeper than the additional people living here, sure that adds to it, but the biggest issue is the entire setup of the city streets. You have limited thoroughfares, and with so many side streets feeding into those streets there is basically a light every 1/4 mile in several areas on all the larger streets. It would help tremendously if the city built some kind of expressway on the north and south ends of town to get out to the interstate from across town with very limited lights and a couple of lanes each way. People are commuting into and out of Fort Collins throughout Northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, making it easier to get across town is just common sense for a city the size of Fort Collins.

[lucylinus]

I think I live in a different Fort Collins than some of you.

I get stopped at a railroad crossing about once every 8-10 weeks for maybe 5 minutes or less.

I rarely see cops giving speeding tickets. I wish I saw more. Parts of Taft Hill Road are like the Indy 500.

I live far from I25. No traffic getting there, I just don't live close.

Maybe if you come from a small town in Iowa you will think we have traffic. Yes it gets busy at 5pm on the major arteries, no different than anywhere else.

[Mike Weber]

The view of traffic in our city is a matter pf perspective. As a long time resident, I can remember when Harmony Road had no traffic and no traffic signals, when Lemay was dirt south of Horsetooth, when one would only wait a moment before pulling out from the south-bound stop sign at Timberline onto east-bound Harmony, and when you would see very few cars on I-25 between FC and Denver on a week day. From that perspective, having to wait through 2 cycles of a traffic light at larger intersections or having to pick a space and jump in when entering a thoroughfare from a side street feels like traffic is bad. I have definitely noticed an increase in the number of cars in our city and it is sometimes an inconvenience. However, sitting on I-25 in morning rush any day of the week in north Denver, sitting in a traffic jam on the 405 in LA at 1:00am, or driving in Austin, St Louis, Rome, Paris, Zurich, Auckland or any other major city makes any traffic complaints about our city pale by comparison.