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View Full Version : Tips on navigating the Denver Metro area



Irving
01-19-2011, 01:40
Many of you will know some, most, or even all of this info. Not everyone does though, and even though I knew a lot of this info already, I found the map class I took very helpful. If you have a map of the Denver Metro area that is large enough to read individual streets, get it out. The one I have is larger than most desks and would be awkward to use in a car; but it is perfect to use for these tips.

I'm just regurgitating this from hand written notes I took in the class and memory. I don't have links and if I mess something up, please feel free to correct me.

Rules of the Interstate:

-Interstates ending in even numbers run WEST to EAST. Exits and mile markers start at 1 on the western boarder and count up to the eastern boarder.
-Interstates ending in odd numbers run SOUTH to NORTH. Exits and mile markers start at 1 on the southern boarder and count up to the northern boarder.
-The mile marker numbers are always the same on both sides of the highway. Mile marker 261 on I-70 will be in the same location going west bound as it is on east bound. If you are stranded going east bound, and have see a mile marker in your rear view mirror in the west bound lanes, it will be the same for you.

Colorado Interstates:

I-70, I-25, I-76, I-225, and I-270.
How can I-225 and I-270 be INTERstates if they don't go out of Colorado? They serve to connect two interstates.

How was it decided what to name I-225 and I-270?
The last two numbers in the highway are the same as the southern most connecting highway. I-270 connects I-70 (on the south end) to I-25 (on the north end). I-225 connects I-25 (on the south end) to I-70 (on the north end).

C-470 serves to connect two interstates, why isn't it I-470 instead?
Because we couldn't get Federal funding to build the highway, so it was made a state highway. I forgot to ask why C-470 isn't C-425, since it seems that it runs into I-25 further south than it hits I-70.
E-470 is the extension of C-470 (on the east side of I-25) and is a toll road.

Highway 36 into Boulder is the only toll road in the US to ever have paid for itself and lose the "toll" portion. **I don't have a source for this.**


If someone calls you on a Colorado interstate, but doesn't know where they are, I find this to be one of the most useful websites to help locate them.
http://www.mesalek.com/coexit/index.html
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Ground Zero:

"Ground Zero" is at Broadway and Ellsworth. Broadway runs north to south and is the 0 block. Everything west of Broadway is West (W. Colfax), and everything east of Broadway is East (E. Colfax). The difference between 2200 W. Colfax and 2200 E. Colfax is 44 blocks.

Ellsworth runs east to west and is the 0 block. Anything North of Ellsworth is North, but the North is only implied and not usually stated. If an address is 2600 Wadsworth Blvd, then you can assume that it is North of Ellsworth. 2600 S. Wadsworth Blvd is 52 blocks south of 2600 Wadsworth Blvd.

Street Names:

EAST
-Broadway, going East to Colorado Blvd, the streets are named after dead Presidents and war heroes. Lincoln, Grant, Humboldt, Franklin, etc.

-Colorado Blvd, going East to Yosemite, the streets are with doublealphabet, Nouns and Plants. Albion, Ash, Bellaire, Birch, Claremont, Cherry, etc.

-Yosemite East into Aurora continues with double alphabet.

WEST
-Broadway, going West to Zuni is Single Alphabet with Indianor Spanish names. Acoma, Bannock, Cherokee, etc

-Zuni, going west is Single Alphabet, two times.

SOUTH
-Ellsworth, going South to Evans are mostly states. Nevada, Virgina, etc.

-Evans, going south are colleges.

NORTH
-Ellsworth, going north, streets are numbered up to 156th. I think it used to be up to 196th, but they might have started putting different names in between as the area grows.

Avenues, Streets, and Boulevards:

-Ave generally run E-W
-St generally run N-S
-Blvd generally run N-S

-Addresses ending in odd numbers are on the North and West side of streets.
-Addresses ending in even numbers are on the South and East side of streets.

I always remember that East and Even go together.

Miscellaneous:

-I-70 crosses Colfax at two points. Once in Golden and once in Aurora.
-I-25 crosses Nevada at two points. Once at N Nevada and one at S Nevada.
-There are four towns in Colorado named "Midway."
-There are some duplicate intersections as well. There are three intersections of Broadway and Arapahoe in Colorado. Denver, Boulder, and I can't remember the other one.

This didn't turn out as organized as I would have liked, but I hope it is helpful to you.

patrick0685
01-19-2011, 01:48
that pretty interesting info

Irving
01-19-2011, 01:53
Oh yeah, and the reason that Downtown Denver is crooked, literally, I'm not talking about the politics this time, is because the trappers started setting up buildings where the Platte River and Cherry Creek met. You build one building, then build all the rest of the buildings square with that first building. After they started getting past Broadway, they decided that Denver was going to be a "real" town and starting building everything on a north/south grid like every other town.

I also recently watched about half of a 2 hour program about how the states got their shapes. That was on History I think and was pretty interesting. I'd check it out if it comes back on again.

patrick0685
01-19-2011, 01:55
Oh yeah, and the reason that Downtown Denver is crooked, literally, I'm not talking about the politics this time, is because the trappers started setting up buildings where the Platte River and Cherry Creek met. You build one building, then build all the rest of the buildings square with that first building. After they started getting past Broadway, they decided that Denver was going to be a "real" town and starting building everything on a north/south grid like every other town.

I also recently watched about half of a 2 hour program about how the states got their shapes. That was on History I think and was pretty interesting. I'd check it out if it comes back on again.

sounds good, ill check it out if i ever see it.

Irving
01-19-2011, 01:56
See edit for this useful website to help locate someone on a Colorado highway.

http://www.mesalek.com/coexit/index.html

cms81586
01-19-2011, 07:57
The quickest way to navigate Denver is to get on I-25 and get out of there as fast as you can. [Beer]

CMS

trlcavscout
01-19-2011, 08:18
The quickest way to navigate Denver is to get on I-25 and get out of there as fast as you can. [Beer]

CMS


+1

JohnTRourke
01-19-2011, 09:53
The quickest way to navigate Denver is to get on I-25 and get out of there as fast as you can. [Beer]

CMS


I dunno about that.
one way puts you in Ft Collins (worse)
the other way puts you in Colo Springs (way worse)

I think you meant I-70[Tooth]

trlcavscout
01-19-2011, 09:56
I dunno about that.
one way puts you in Ft Collins (worse)
the other way puts you in Colo Springs (way worse)

I think you meant I-70[Tooth]


Then you have GJ or Limon? You cant even get to a good place from Denver [Beer]

spyder
01-19-2011, 09:58
that is a lot of stuff to take in... glad i live here now, our streets are very easy. we use numbers and the alphabet, really simple. an eighth of the size or less, but still...

BPTactical
01-19-2011, 10:15
Good info and pretty spot on with one minor correction-streets west of Broadway are not "Spanish" names but rather names of Indian Tribes (North American Aboriginal Peoples groups to the PC crowd)[Coffee]

hollohas
01-19-2011, 10:21
Then you have GJ or Limon? You cant even get to a good place from Denver [Beer]

285 is your best bet.

BigBear
01-19-2011, 10:21
I lived in a grid city before.


Streets North to South were alphabetical names.
Streests East to West were numerical.

Made finding anything super easy.

trlcavscout
01-19-2011, 10:29
Thats the ONE nice thing about Greeley, at least the older/main part, east/west 1st through like 103rd ave, north/south 1st through 49th street. Then you have east and north, but for the most part all the numbers line up. Streets/Ave's should be numbered, not named.

StagLefty
01-19-2011, 10:43
You guys would have been lost back in my small town in New England. All the streets were named-no numerical anythings. When I moved out here my first thought was "why don't they do this everywhere ?" [Beer]

hollohas
01-19-2011, 10:44
Salt Lake City still confuses the hell out of me. W 300 S or S 300 W, WTF does that mean? People that live there tell me it's super easy...supposed to be based around the Temple...those Mormons have some sort of secret code I think.

hollohas
01-19-2011, 10:46
You guys would have been lost back in my small town in New England. All the streets were named-no numerical anythings. When I moved out here my first thought was "why don't they do this everywhere ?" [Beer]

My extended family is in Maynard, MA. It's like all the roads follow old deer trials or something.

patrick0685
01-19-2011, 12:05
ya back in tennessee its not like this, streets all over the play

BPTactical
01-19-2011, 12:29
My extended family is in Maynard, MA. It's like all the roads follow old deer trials or something.

A lot of this is due to the way properties are divided and geography. East of the Mississippi the majority of land tracts are surveyed by what is known as "Metes and Bounds" which use geographical points such as a stone wall or rivers and the descriptions are something else to read such as: "From the large rock bounding along the river upstream to the bridge thence proceeding south to the old stone wall thence returning to the large rock next to the river".
That is why the roads are goofy, they tend to follow property lines.
West of the Mississippi land tracts are generally surveyed on a NS-EW grid system and again, the majority of roads follow property and section lines. You can really pick up on it in rural areas.

chrisguy
01-19-2011, 12:30
Oh yeah, and the reason that Downtown Denver is crooked, literally, I'm not talking about the politics this time, is because the trappers started setting up buildings where the Platte River and Cherry Creek met. You build one building, then build all the rest of the buildings square with that first building. After they started getting past Broadway, they decided that Denver was going to be a "real" town and starting building everything on a north/south grid like every other town.

Interesting... I heard a while back that orientation was purposeful, something about getting sun on the streets in winter to help the snow melt/clearing.

It does look on the map like someone cut out a chunk of the grid, rotated it a few degrees and stuck it back in.

Chicago is on a perfect grid too.... "ground zero" is State and Madison, and every 800 numbers in any N/E/S/W direction are a mile. The diagonal streets of course don't follow the distance figure. I can still name all the even mile streets, it's handy to always know where you are, how far something else is just by the address, etc.
[Coffee]

JohnTRourke
01-19-2011, 15:24
Salt Lake City still confuses the hell out of me. W 300 S or S 300 W, WTF does that mean? People that live there tell me it's super easy...supposed to be based around the Temple...those Mormons have some sort of secret code I think.

totally agree
my wife is from SLC and it's just a giant maze to me.

newracer
01-19-2011, 16:49
Fort Collins is way better than Denver.
I heard a mistake was made and that is why downtown Denver streets are not E-W/N-S.

Ridge
01-19-2011, 18:46
Grew up in the desert north of Los Angeles....all the east-west streets (I think) are just letters....Avenue J, Avenue L, etc...

Half Live
01-19-2011, 21:25
My job is a driver and I use the block numbers most often.