I70 between Grand Junction and Denver.

There is speeding and then there is stupidity. That guy, he falls into the stupidity part. When I would spend all day going up and down Eisenhower I would see the police pull trucks over for going 5-10 mph over the speed limit. Most of those trucks that had flatbeds were lightly loaded or empty. It didn't matter to the police, the speed limit is the speed limit. That being said I rarely get to go down the mountains at anything less than 70,000 lbs. I would like to say with confidence that I know where the limit is on the trucks that I drive for engine braking performance but each truck is different and I always give them a cushion. My goal is to never have to hit the service brakes going down any of the hills. When I go down Eisenhower I only hit the brakes when I take Silverthorne exit 205 and have to stop at the stoplight at the end of the off ramp.

 

when I 1st came to work here ran 160 every other Sunday eve for 4years 1st drop was Durango&although over the years I've run most every mtn backroad goatpath there is at one time or another....Ill take any of the US hiways in Colorado anytime over playin w/the yuppie ski crowd on 70 anyday.....they even make the Cali flatland clowns that stampede off Donner at the end of a ski wknd seem like they got some sense

 

yeah, 70 is strange. The downhill grades are different when your heading west. you won't be comparing it to cabbage anyway.

 

Its not so bad in the summer time. Winter when the snow and ice hit it can suck. Piles of snow on the sides with no where to go.

Coming east bound,.. that big hill before the tunnel,.. even with chains can be a nightmare. I barely made it up even with a mandatory max chain up. The LTL guys with single axles were slipping and sliding,.. taking up all the lanes,.. some gave up and just sat there. I managed to make it around them,.. decided when I got to the top to just spend the night up there. I didnt want to risk coming down the other side until after the sun came up.



Hurst

 

Well no wonder it was easy, I used to go across there with no Jake and a 48,000 lb. load back in the late 80's

 

I've been driving this stretch a whole lot this summer between delivering rock to the construction site on Glenwood Springs and picking up sheet in Gypsum. The hills aren't so bad. If you try to drive it on the weekend though, the RVS and weekend warriors can make it insufferable. Also, two months ago, I got shut down for about 10 hours at Rifle due to a landslide, so always expect the unexpected.

 

Yep like the current 30+ minute delays in the canyon for rock scaling. Just missed that on Tuesday, something tells me I won't get so lucky tomorrow.