Abandon Glenwood Canyon...

[Eric P]

A tunnel would be easier to get through an environmental review than altering the existing bridge or build new ones. They couldn't even change the railing for safety upgrades because aesthetics is more important than safety according to the forrest disservice and federal highway pinheads.

[Martinjmpr]

RE: Tunnel: A quick Google search indicates the longest automobile tunnel in the world is about 15 miles long (24 km.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A6rdal_Tunnel

Assuming the East end of the tunnel was at the Canyon entrance around MM 133 and the West end near the No Name exit, that hypothetical tunnel would be about 13 miles long as the crow flies.

Of course, it would have to go under several creek or stream beds which means it would likely have to swing out to the North to be far enough underground to be well beneath those streams.

I was surprised to find that the Laerdl tunnel was completed in 6 years.

And of course, there are railroad tunnels that are quite a bit longer than that (over 30 miles) so it's certainly something that CAN be done.

Politically, though, it's tough for any politician to vote for something that won't yield any benefits for him during his term of office.

[Martinjmpr]

RE: Tunnel: A quick Google search indicates the longest automobile tunnel in the world is about 15 miles long (24 km.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A6rdal_Tunnel

Assuming the East end of the tunnel was at the Canyon entrance around MM 133 and the West end near the No Name exit, that hypothetical tunnel would be about 13 miles long as the crow flies.

Of course, it would have to go under several creek or stream beds which means it would likely have to swing out to the North to be far enough underground to be well beneath those streams.

I was surprised to find that the Laerdl tunnel was completed in 6 years.

And of course, there are railroad tunnels that are quite a bit longer than that (over 30 miles) so it's certainly something that CAN be done.

Politically, though, it's tough for any politician to vote for something that won't yield any benefits for him during his term of office.

EDITED TO ADD: This came in at just under 13 miles:

[BushMasterBoy]

Improve and pave all the passes. Give everybody more options. Work with what we already have.

[clodhopper]

Probably cheaper to just reconfigure and roof over the existing alignment than to actually tunnel through a new 13 mile tunnel. Like snow sheds, but mud slide sheds. There would still be slide maintenance, but it would roll off the highway and wouldnt affect traffic.

But that would cause excessive disturbance to the canyon so wouldnt be considered. A canyon that regularly goes through changes naturally.

[Sawin]

Let’s hire Elon and his Boring Company to come do it for half price?

[Irving]

Let’s hire Elon and his Boring Company to come do it for half price?

That's what I was thinking.

[Gman]

You can still easily get to the western slope for those deals. Just have to detour off 70 on 40 up through Winter Park and go through Steamboat to Craig and take 13 south into Rifle. Easy as pie and probably only adds about four and a half or five hours to the drive each way.

Just in time for winter.

[JTP80]

Let’s hire Elon and his Boring Company to come do it for half price?

He has said that he'd like to use that company to build a high speed train from Denver to SLC, which would then connect to points like Reno en route to San Francisco as part of his network. He could probably get from Union Station to Rifle before CDOT even gets the pass cleared of debris.

[Eric P]

Keeping 82 open was quickly shotdown in acting this morning.

Let's see how the brute force of the National Guard handles helping clean without demoing the structures. They did a bad job in the 14 floods.