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Summit County is a suburb to Denver. By definition, a suburb is a community adjacent to a metropolitan area.
People live in the suburbs in their primary homes and then drive to the city to work.
I work at the Colorado State Capitol located at 200 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver and live outside of Breckenridge. It takes me one hour and 15 minutes to drive from my primary residence to my office.
People in New York and Los Angeles would kill for a commute time that short.
People who do not live in Summit County own about 70 percent of our homes. Many of them live in Denver.
When they are not short-term renting out their homes, they may drive to Summit County on Friday afternoon and stay until Monday morning, then they drive to Denver to work. In other words, they commute a lot from Summit County.
They spend parts of four days in Summit County. That is over half their week. They are commuters.
The estimated permanent population of Summit County is around 25,000, and it is expected to grow to 50,000 in the next 25 to 30 years. Sounds like a suburb to me.
When people discuss the traffic congestion along the Interstate 70 corridor, I am often reminded of the TV cartoon "The Jetsons." If you can recall their city, it is a large number of high-rise buildings along the traffic corridors.
People live in the suburbs in their primary homes and then drive to the city to work.
I work at the Colorado State Capitol located at 200 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver and live outside of Breckenridge. It takes me one hour and 15 minutes to drive from my primary residence to my office.
People in New York and Los Angeles would kill for a commute time that short.
People who do not live in Summit County own about 70 percent of our homes. Many of them live in Denver.
When they are not short-term renting out their homes, they may drive to Summit County on Friday afternoon and stay until Monday morning, then they drive to Denver to work. In other words, they commute a lot from Summit County.
They spend parts of four days in Summit County. That is over half their week. They are commuters.
The estimated permanent population of Summit County is around 25,000, and it is expected to grow to 50,000 in the next 25 to 30 years. Sounds like a suburb to me.
When people discuss the traffic congestion along the Interstate 70 corridor, I am often reminded of the TV cartoon "The Jetsons." If you can recall their city, it is a large number of high-rise buildings along the traffic corridors.
That is the way I visualize Summit County at some point in the future.
The commuters, the people who need to live near the transportation system, will commute from Denver to their high-rises in the mountains where they can eat dinner and enjoy their cocktails while looking at the Gore Range from their apartments.
The people who do not commute will be able to live farther out, and I think that beyond a mile or two from the interstate the county will look the same as it does today.
So what brought me to this conclusion?
I first moved to the mountains 31 years ago, so I have had some time to consider the issue.
I also was directly involved in the I-70 Major Investment Study in 1995 and the I-70 Programmatic Environmental Impact Study early in this century.
Both indicated that there is virtually no hope for the future, so our only alternative is to dig in and live with widening and more tunnels.
Many people have called me and suggested the state accept the no-action alternative and let the entire thing get so jammed up it becomes a permanent parking lot.
I think that is wrong because we would be robbing our children of the pleasure of sitting in their cars for hours on end in the future. Why should we have all the fun?
The commuters, the people who need to live near the transportation system, will commute from Denver to their high-rises in the mountains where they can eat dinner and enjoy their cocktails while looking at the Gore Range from their apartments.
The people who do not commute will be able to live farther out, and I think that beyond a mile or two from the interstate the county will look the same as it does today.
So what brought me to this conclusion?
I first moved to the mountains 31 years ago, so I have had some time to consider the issue.
I also was directly involved in the I-70 Major Investment Study in 1995 and the I-70 Programmatic Environmental Impact Study early in this century.
Both indicated that there is virtually no hope for the future, so our only alternative is to dig in and live with widening and more tunnels.
Many people have called me and suggested the state accept the no-action alternative and let the entire thing get so jammed up it becomes a permanent parking lot.
I think that is wrong because we would be robbing our children of the pleasure of sitting in their cars for hours on end in the future. Why should we have all the fun?
Another thing is the proposal for the Super Slab out east.
That is the private toll road proposed to go from Pueblo to Fort Collins.
Lots of people are upset about that one.
I am on the opponents' mailing list, and last week, I received an e-mail that said there is an attorney in Colorado Springs who has pulled articles of incorporation from the Secretary of State's Office for several other toll-road corporations.
Guess what folks? Two of them are toll roads from Denver to Eagle.
Yep. Our Denver and our Eagle.
And where would they have to go to get there? Through Summit County, of course.
One route would go over Loveland Pass, and the other one would go over Berthoud Pass, both ending up in Eagle.
Of course, they would both be toll roads.
That is the private toll road proposed to go from Pueblo to Fort Collins.
Lots of people are upset about that one.
I am on the opponents' mailing list, and last week, I received an e-mail that said there is an attorney in Colorado Springs who has pulled articles of incorporation from the Secretary of State's Office for several other toll-road corporations.
Guess what folks? Two of them are toll roads from Denver to Eagle.
Yep. Our Denver and our Eagle.
And where would they have to go to get there? Through Summit County, of course.
One route would go over Loveland Pass, and the other one would go over Berthoud Pass, both ending up in Eagle.
Of course, they would both be toll roads.
But by then, we should be used to paying a toll because that is the latest and greatest from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
CDOT is broke and so is the Federal Highway Administration. No money for any new roads. The alternative is to build a road and pay for it with tolls. We even have a Colorado Tolling Enterprise. That means the income is protected from TABOR, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
My good friend, Denver Post columnist and Salida resident Ed Quillen refers to the I-70 corridor as the Sacrifice Zone.
He likes all of the traffic and development along I-70 because if it is here, then it is not in his hometown of Salida.
Good thinking, Ed, but you're next. Sorry.
But wait. That already happened many times in the past many years. First it was the miners from Climax commuting to Salida and then the employees from Copper Mountain being bused to Salida. Can't forget the railroad workers from Pueblo, either.
I guess I will have to add Salida to the names of the suburban towns in Colorado.
State Rep. Gary Lindstrom of Lakeview Meadows represents Summit, Eagle and Lake counties. He writes a Monday column. He can be reached at gary@garylindstrom.com, or visit his website at www.garylindstrom.com.
CDOT is broke and so is the Federal Highway Administration. No money for any new roads. The alternative is to build a road and pay for it with tolls. We even have a Colorado Tolling Enterprise. That means the income is protected from TABOR, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
My good friend, Denver Post columnist and Salida resident Ed Quillen refers to the I-70 corridor as the Sacrifice Zone.
He likes all of the traffic and development along I-70 because if it is here, then it is not in his hometown of Salida.
Good thinking, Ed, but you're next. Sorry.
But wait. That already happened many times in the past many years. First it was the miners from Climax commuting to Salida and then the employees from Copper Mountain being bused to Salida. Can't forget the railroad workers from Pueblo, either.
I guess I will have to add Salida to the names of the suburban towns in Colorado.
State Rep. Gary Lindstrom of Lakeview Meadows represents Summit, Eagle and Lake counties. He writes a Monday column. He can be reached at gary@garylindstrom.com, or visit his website at www.garylindstrom.com.
