A Weekend Drive on Hell's Highway

1 comment

April 13, 9:25 AM

by John Morrissey, Denver Traffic Examiner

 

 

On Saturday, close to 40 breweries from across the country brought their biggest and boldest ales to the Boulder Strong Ale Fest.  That meant a drive up the Boulder Turnpike. 

The Boulder Turnpike is part of US 36, a 1414 mile long highway that begins at Deer Ridge Junction in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park.  It winds its way east to Uhrichsville, Ohio (where ever the heck that is.)  When it opened in 1952, it was called the Denver-Boulder Turnpike and it had real, live tollbooths.  According to Colorado road scholar Matthew Salek, "The tollbooths were under the Wadsworth overpass at the Broomfield interchange. The toll to go from Federal Blvd. to Boulder was 25¢, and only 10¢ if you got off at Broomfield. Broomfield to Boulder was 15¢."  By 1967, the bills were paid and the tollbooths came down, but we still call it a turnpike.  Old habits are hard to break.

It was a grand highway back then, wide open and uncontested.

Today, the Boulder Turnpike is one of the most crowded, congested drives in the area and not just on

Not for the weak of heart!  Eastbound US 36/The Boulder Turnpike approaching I-25. Photo courtesy Matthew Salek

A group is trying to fix Hell's Highway.  The US 36 Mobility Partnership is a bunch of engineering types, RTD and C-DOT types and others, who are trying to make the highway better.  They started looking at it seven years ago and they still have a very long way to go.  Rebuilding a highway, you see, is a very slow process. 

A couple days ago, everyone got in a twitter, which is official highway lingo for "really excited. "  Apparently, New York has decided not to go ahead with a major highway project.  The money that Uncle Sam was going to spend there could be coming here to pay for improvements along the Boulder Turnpike.  Like I said, the news that there might be federal money available to pay for the rebuilding of Hell's Highway made everyone extremely twittery.

But, what if we do not get that money?  Would you favor the return of tollbooths to pay for a new and improved US 36/Boulder Turnpike?  With today's technology, you would not even have to stop to pay.  You could use your handy dandy E-470 puck, like you do when you use the HOV lanes on I-25. 

It would be a painless way to pay for progress...well, at least until the E-470 bill arrives.

What do you think?

Do you like the idea of using tollbooths to pay for new roads in Colorado? 

By the way, you can explore more about the history of US 36 in Colorado by clicking here.

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