Off to Denver
Along with being a roadgeek, I'm also a coffee geek. I love me a good cuppa joe. My life goal is to open my own coffee shop. I had a location scouted out, I had the ultimate business plan put together, I had an advertising plan as a part of the whole thing, and I had an idea to tap two untapped markets here in the Springs. The only thing I was missing was funding. Banks weren't looking too highly upon me, so I decided to try my luck with the Colorado Enterprise Fund. They're usually a lot more lenient than banks. So I hopped into the car one Monday morning and drove to Denver to suck up for cash. After that, I wandered through the streets of Denver, ending up at Calder's Coffee, one of the few shops along the Front Range that showcases Latte Art in every cup. Then onto more roadgeeking.Many of these pics are sized for 1024x768 monitors. If your resolution is less, you may have issues. You've been warned.
Off to suck up for money...
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Northbound on I-25 at the Northgate Road/N. Entrance Air Force Academy exit. Not sure why the wide median exists here.
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Colorado has a law that says left lane hogs can be pulled over and ticketed if they're causing backups. Problem is, I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs is one big mass of traffic. It's impossible to always enforce this law on this stretch.
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Guess there's nowhere to spend the night in Monument anymore.
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This is the CO 105 interchange. It was very recently redone.
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With the realignment of SH 82 here, this sign's life span is nearing its end. That big rock in the background is Castle Rock. Not surprisingly, that's the name of the town we're passing through too.
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In preparation for future widening, the railroad just finished construction on a new bridge.
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The old bridge, with a gothic feel to the architecture, is directly behind the new one. You can see the difference in width here, too.
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There used to be an exit here, right in front of those trees. It was exit 183, and it carried US 85 north into Denver. It's been gone for a few years now.
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US 85 is now accessable at the next interchange. This bridge stands where the original bridge for the exit stood. This is also where eastbound CO 86 will intersect I-25.
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Wide shoulder here. The lanes shift to the left right now and the merging lane is continuous all the way until the CO 52 exit, which is about 10 miles north of Denver. Eventually I-25 will be widened to three lanes through Castle Rock.
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The abutment of this bridge was shortened to make way for the wider interstate through here.
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Exits 190 and 191 are as close to a "T" intersection as you can get on the interstates in Colorado. Long range plans are to close the two exits and make one new one, connected by frontage roads.
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I-25 climbs some long grades between Castle Rock and Denver. Because of this, in both directions, the minimum speed in the left lane is 55 mph. We're at the top of the climb here; just after that ridge is Denver.
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At the I-25/CO-470/E-470 stack. The County Line Road sign is button copy with a reflective arrow patch glued on.
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In the southern section of the T-REX project. The construction on the mainline is pretty much done down here, with the interstate in its final configuration. This used to be only 3 lanes in each direction.
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Approaching the junction of 225. The new BGS's installed through here even have the state name in the interstate shields. Snazzy, huh?
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At the Evans Avenue exit, exit 203. No, that's not a smudge on my windshield over the distance sign, the Downing Street exit is closed for construction and it has been covered up here.
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The retaining wall has a notch cut out of it for the gantry support.
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The Steele Street Bridge was the first to be demolished and rebuilt as part of the T-Rex project.
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Just to the right of this bridge lies the old Broadway Viaduct, the (at the time) #1 worst rated bridge in Colorado. It's being replaced now. The sign gantry won't be standing much longer.
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Buildings close to the ROW here. The highway can't be expanded much more without tearing things down. And that's a pretty sick looking box-rail guardrail.
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Downtown Denver, east on Colfax/Bus I-70/US 40/US 287. Colfax curves around Civic Center Park. That's the city and county administration building directly in front of us.
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Reassurance shields on Colfax.
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Colfax approaching I-25. That should be a Business 70 shield up there.
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On the viaduct over railroad tracks, the South Platte River, and I-25 and a mess of ramps now. That curvy building to the right is Invesco Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos and Colorado Rapids.
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Guide sign for the right lane. I was driving down Colfax at about 2:30, so there were still cars parked in the lane. Saw quite a few near-accidents with people trying to pass in the right lane.
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Heading south on Wadsworth Blvd. (CO 128) now. This is the interchange with the 6th Avenue Freeway. This is an extremely tight cloverleaf here. (Wadsworth runs top to bottom in the pic)
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How Denver signs where U-turns are permitted from the leftmost left turn lane.
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A pitiful excuse for a frontage road. Wonder how many cars have come off of that curb?
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Aahhh... much better.
After spending three hours talking coffee at Calder's Coffee, I hit the road again. I took Bowles west to 470, headed south, then decided to turn back north and take some more snaps. Exited at Ken Caryl Ranch Road to double back. That's where the pics resume.
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Eastbound Ken Caryl at the onramp to north 470. Colorado always has great rainbows, too.
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Merging onto 470 northbound. The ridge to the west is called the hogback.
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Cars and deer don't mix. There's even an eight to ten foot high fence on the left.
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Unmarked exit just after the interchange with 285. It leads to the frontage road and park that borders the lakes.
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When 470 was extended to US 6, the contractors hastily added the exit to this distance sign. Shouldn't that read JCT US-6, and be right under the JCT I-70?
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Exit Only tab covered up. It's been that way since the sign was installed. Not sure why, though, considering the lane is exit only. And it has been even before the construction ahead.
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Colorful way to block out a closed section. This is waiting bridge expansion for this ramp to open. Yes, this is the interchange where an I-beam came loose, fell, and crushed an SUV, killing the family inside immediately.
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For all you freeway ends folks, this one's for you. This is the western END of the western segment of I-76. It goes northeast from here 188 miles to Big Spring, Nebraska.
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Here's an oddity. I-70 over I-25 is only two lanes in each direction, yet there's room for it to be wider. Hmmm.
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On the aging viaduct east of I-25. Talks of rerouting I-70 to the north of here are ongoing. The exits are numerous here.
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This is one of very few spots where you'll see US routes cosigned with interstate routes in Colorado. The interstate shield even has the state name in it. That means these signs have been replaced within the last two years.
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That's an interesting, all-metal guardrail you've got there.
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Another END! This is where I-270 joins I-70. The bridge is carrying southeast-bound 270 traffic to eastbound 70. The sign bridge in the background is where the exit to northwestbound 270 is.
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And another END! This is the northern terminus of I-225. It's also one of the rare times you'll see Colorado Springs spelled out. Normally it's "Colo Spgs."
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Here's a good specimen of what I like to call a Sign of Fugliness™. I do like the mini-Exit Only tab on the DIA sign, though.
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Oops. Gotta hang the sign in the right place, I guess.
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A decomissioned state route here. An old overhead sign, too.
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Colorful sign bridge here. The Colfax sign should read West Bus 70/West US 40, though. And that's a unique place to put the advisory ramp speed sign.
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Currently E-470 intersects I-70 with a signalized diamond interchange. It's the only light on the freeway. The bridges being built will handle through E-470 traffic when complete. Wanna see a beautiful thing? Look at what the full build-out of this interchange will look like. *PDF File*
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These signs have neon letters in them that light up saying "ICY BRIDGE." Useful out here, too. That wind gets blowing and slicks up those bridges fast.
I ran out of daylight at this point, so that's as far as the pitcures go. Hope you enjoyed them!
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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