A visit to Glenwood Springs
We, John, Marta, Gabby,
Chris, Jackie & I, ( son, daughter-in-law, grand daughter & grand son)
all piled into John’s Pathfinder for the trip to Glenwood Springs.
Many of our interstate
highways are considered boring drives with one mile looking just like the last.
Not so with I-70 through the mountains. Visually it is a spectacular drive, it is also a challenge
to truckers (and anyone with overheated brakes) with long ascents and descents.
I have a book “Mountain Directory West for Truckers, RV and Motorhome drivers.”
That opens with the quote “ There are two kinds of drivers—those that have been
in trouble on a mountain grade and those the will be.”
One of the high points (literally,
elevation 11013 feet) is the Eisenhower tunnel. There are several other tunnels
and here is a picture of us approaching the east entrance and exiting one of
the other tunnels.
About the Eisenhower Tunnel,
from Wikipedia:
(clip) “the Eisenhower Tunnel, where the freeway
crosses the Continental Divide. At the time of dedication, this tunnel was the highest
vehicular tunnel in the world, at 11,158 feet (3,401 m).[13] As of 2010, it
is still the highest vehicular tunnel in the United States;[6] but there are
now higher tunnels elsewhere, such as the Fenghuoshan Tunnel in
China.[14] The Eisenhower
Tunnel is noted as both the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the
Interstate Highway System.[13] The tunnel has a
command center, staffed with 52 full-time employees, to monitor traffic, remove
stranded vehicles, and maintain generators to keep the tunnel's lighting and
ventilation systems running in the event of a power failure. Signals are placed
at each entrance and at various points inside the tunnel to close lanes or stop
traffic in an emergency” (clip)
About the tunnel construction, from Wikipedia:
“Construction on the
first bore of the tunnel was started on March 15, 1968.[13] Construction
efforts suffered many setbacks and the project went well over time and budget.
One of the biggest setbacks was the discovery of fault lines in the path of the
tunnel that were not discovered during the pilot bores.[25] These faults
began to slip during construction and emergency measures had to be taken to
protect the tunnels and workers from cave-ins and collapses.[21] A total of nine
workers were killed during the construction of both bores. Further complicating
construction was that the boring machines could not work as fast as expected at
such high altitudes, and the productivity was significantly less than planned. The frustration prompted one engineer to
comment, "We were going by the book, but the damned mountain couldn't
read".[25] The first bore was dedicated March 8, 1973. Initially this
tunnel was used for two-way traffic, with one lane for each direction. The
amount of traffic through the tunnel exceeded predictions, and efforts soon
began to expedite construction on the second tube (the Johnson bore), which was
finished on December 21, 1979.[13] The initial
engineering cost estimate for the Eisenhower bore was $42 million; the actual
cost was $108 million (equivalent to $574 million today). Approximately 90% of
the funds were paid by the federal government, with the state of Colorado
paying the rest. At the time, this figure set a record for the most expensive
federally aided project. The excavation cost for the Johnson bore was $102.8
million (equivalent to $334 million today).”
Heading
west from the tunnel is the Vail Pass. The highway has several sections of
fences that prevent wildlife from crossing the highway and guide them to
underpasses. At least one of these follows the natural migratory path of deer.
The builders made the effort of adding landscape to encourage crossing using
the underpasses.
Further
west of the tunnel is Glenwood Canyon. Welcome to one of the most expensive few
miles of Instate Highway.
From Wipikiedia:
(clip) “Glenwood
Canyon has served as the primary transportation
artery through the Rocky Mountains, even before the creation of U.S. highways.
Railroads have used the canyon since 1887 and a dirt road was built through the
canyon in the early 20th century.[8] The first paved road was built from 1936
to 1938 at a cost of $1.5 million (equivalent to $25 million today)
With the Eisenhower
Tunnel finished, the last remaining obstacle for I-70 to be an interstate
commercial artery was the two lane, non-freeway portion in Glenwood Canyon.
Construction had started on this section in the 1960s with a small section
opening to traffic in 1966.[4] The remainder was stopped due to environmentalist protests
that caused a 30-year controversy.[12] The original design was criticized as
"the epitome of environmental insensitivity". Engineers scrapped the
original plans and started work on a new design that would minimize additional
environmental impacts.[27] A new design was underway by 1971, which
was approved in 1975; however, environmental groups filed lawsuits to stop
construction, and the controversy continued even when construction finally
resumed in 1981.[21] The final design included 40 bridges and
viaducts, three additional tunnel bores (two were completed before construction
was stopped in the 1960s) and 15 miles (24 km) of retaining walls for a
stretch of freeway 12 miles (19 km) long.[6]The project was further complicated by the
need to build the four-lane freeway without disturbing the operations of the
railroad. This required using special and coordinated blasting techniques.[28] Engineers designed two separate tracks
for the highway, one elevated above the other, to minimize the footprint in the
canyon.[8] The final design was praised for its
environmental sensitivity. A Denver architect who helped design the freeway
proclaimed, "Most of the people in western Colorado see it as having
preserved the canyon." He further stated, "I think pieces of the
highway elevate to the standard of public art."[27] A portion of the project included
shoring up the banks of the Colorado River to repair damage and remove flow
restrictions created in the initial construction of US 6 in the 1930s.[29]
Department
of Transportation drawing showing how re-using the existing footprint of
US 6 combined with elevating two lanes helped minimize the environmental
impact of the freeway on Glenwood Canyon
The freeway was
finally completed on October 14, 1992, in a ceremony covered nationwide.[30][31] Most coverage celebrated the engineering
achievement or noted this was the last major piece of the Interstate Highway
System to open to traffic. However, newspapers in western Colorado celebrated
the end of the frustrating traffic delays. For most of the final 10 years of
construction, only a single lane of traffic that reversed direction every 30
minutes remained open in the canyon. One newspaper proudly proclaimed "You
heard right. For the first time in more than 10 years, construction delays
along that 12-mile (19 km) stretch of Interstate 70 will be
non-existent."[32]
The cost was $490
million (equivalent to $800 million today) to build 12 miles (19 km), 40
times the average cost per mile predicted by the planners of the Interstate
Highway system.[21] This figure exceeded that of Interstate 15
through the Virgin River Gorge,
which was previously proclaimed the most expensive rural freeway in the United
States.[33] The construction of I-70 through Glenwood
Canyon earned 30 awards for the Colorado Department of
Transportation,[8] including the 1993 Outstanding Civil
Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.[34] At the dedication it was claimed that
I-70 through Glenwood Canyon was the final piece of the Interstate Highway
System to open to traffic. For this reason, the system was proclaimed to be
complete.[6][8] However, as of 2009, at least two
sections of the original Interstate Highway System have not been
constructed: a
section of Interstate
95 in central New Jersey,[35] and a section of I-70 in Breezewood,
Pennsylvania. ” (clip).
Here are pictures I took on our return trip.
There is a network of sidewalk and paths, good to stretch your
legs and enjoy the scenery. The Colorado River runs past the area.
The walkway went under I-70. The
surface change to gavel and wound it’s way into the mountains. The No Name Creek
empties into the Colorado river here. The next two pictues looking up at I-70
as we followed the path under the highway.
Soon it was time to continue on. Our next stop was in Frisco Colorado
where we had lunch, sitting ouside with
a beautiful view.
After lunch it was back up the Vail Pass, through the Eisenhaower Tunnel,
a short detour around a tunnel and on to Superior.
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