June 30, 2009 11:23 AM UTC

Forget EFCA, I'll vote for the guy who fixes traffic at I-270 & Vasquez

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• by: poodlelord

I feel somewhat vindicated knowing that my daily commute includes one of the metro area’s 18 most congested intersections, this according to the Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news…

Since moving to Stapleton three years ago, I have complained to my co-workers about a miserable stretch of I-270 and Vasquez I must commute each day, only to be countered with “yea, but you should have seen how f****ed up traffic was on the Turnpike going home yesterday..” or “think that’s bad, it took me three hours to take my kids up to Winter Park on Saturday for boarding..” Now my co-workers and I all have a list of bad commutes to compare around the water cooler, thanks to an official study by DRCOG.

Which lead me to think: DON’T OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ALREADY KNOW WHERE THE TRAFFIC BOTTLENECKS ARE WITHOUT A DRCOG STUDY, AND SURELY THEY HAVE PLANS TO FIX IT! How wrong I am, as the Post story continues:

For seven of the 18 bottlenecks identified by DRCOG, CDOT has no plans to offer relief. At another six, environmental studies are in progress to identify future improvements, but there is no guaranteed source of funding.

So for 7 of the worst 18 traffic tie-ups in metro Denver-that’s more than 1/3 of the total–our state government has no plans to do anything about it, and for another 1/3, aside from an EIS in progress, no relief is in site.

Isn’t transportation planning and road building a basic public good our government should provide? Shouldn’t it be a core competency to which we hold accountable our elected officials?

Forget climate change, EFCA, cell phone use while driving, war profiteering by gubernatorial candidates, and how much a sacker at King Soopers should make-I want to know what my elected representatives will do about the basics– like fixing the roads.