Roadtrippin' Colorado Style

This is on the western frontage road of I-25 south of the Circle Drive exit in southern Colorado Springs. This box culvert is actually advertised by CDOT as a way to get to Eastbound SH 29. That's quite low for advertisements.

Closer shot of the signage on the cement walls leading into the culvert. The signs are duplicated on the opposite side. The multi-colored paint is here to cover the work of local "urban artists."

Brand new pedestrian bridge gets a cool helix. That has to be fun on a bike or skateboard.

This is what happens when a semi crashes and lands on top of a guardrail. Yes, on top. Apparaently the trailer went airbone when the truck jacknifed. The truck was even traveling the same direction as we are in the picture. Poor guardrail didn't stand a chance.

What in the world is this contraption?

On SH 83 north of the Springs. This is where Powers Boulevard is going to intersect the highway. This is the turn to head south...

...and this is where the northbound traffic intersects the highway. The intersections are split because eventually this will be a diamond interchange with an expressway-grade Powers.

The same interchange one week later. The road is open now. Note the odd signage. White South and arrow signs and a green Powers Blvd. sign. Eventually, SH 83 will turn south on Powers here. This way all the road crews have to replace is the Powers part.

In the middle of Black Forest now. Well, kinda. We see the double-beacon warning sign. I guess the louvers are there to not scare the livestock?

Okay, now we're in Black Forest. Typical road scene here.

A median VMS hard at work on I-25 through Colorado Springs. That was a good warning to have, too. Someone dropped a mattress and it was laying in the middle of the right lane.

Okay. There's two things I need help understanding here. Maybe someone can help me out. First, what's the point of the black paint? Does this help increase visibility of the yellow lines? I see this everywhere in the city now. Second, see the manhole and how the asphalt is patched around it? That's a normal here. When the crews resurface a road here, they surface over the manholes. Then they come back through, dig up the fresh asphalt and patch it around the manhole. Why not just steer the surfacing machines around the manhole? (And this happens on the roads the crews take a layer off of, too, so it's not always because the manhole needs to be raised.)

When you exit the Greenland exit on I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver and turn west, you're greeted with this sign. No sh*t, sherlock! There's nothing around here except one or two houses.

This doesn't look safe.

A little sign double-duty here. These signs are seen everywhere in Colorado.

I'm still curious when the use of crosswalk stripes on the sign stopped and arrows below the sign started.

Now we're on Spruce Mountain Road (former US 85/87) headed south. This is what the old locals call Dead Man's Curve. See if you can see why:

Okay, we saw the curve sign, now all I see is the rise in the road.

Right at the crest of the hill the road drops and turns. This is one helluva blind curve. The name came from too many people missing the curve and finding out their cars can't fly.

Before and after that curve, this is mostly what the road looks like. Straight, slightly hilly, and not curvy at all. That curve can/does/did catch quite a few people off-guard.

Okay, working from top to bottom: The mini-shield in the sign has the state name on it. w00t! But, this is CDOT's way of indicating that the left lane has to turn in 3 lights. That's not good advertising there. The sign on the next mast arm says "Exit Only" (as seen in the next picture), but it's still not enough. Next, note how many cars can fit between intersections here. That's not right. This is a new design, too. It's been complete for just about a year now. Tell me someone didn't get paid to design this mess.

Here's the second of three warnings that the left lane leaves us. The third warning is the left turn only arrow at the intersection where the lane turns. This leads to more backups because there's always motorists who don't see the signs until the lane ends then have to wait until there's a gap in traffic to get over a lane. Or they just cut someone off to get into the lane.

An abandoned bridge pier in Monument Creek just north of I-25's passage over the creek. Aside from the opposite side bridge pier, there's no indication that a road ever went through here.

Snazzy sculpture in the middle of a roundabout by the Garden of the Gods and I-25 interchange. Funny thing here is that the road only curves to the left. There's only driveways along the entire right side of the road.

Look closely at the control box. Crews actually took the time to stencil "Post No Signs" on it. Wonder how long that will happen.

Heading east on Woodmen Road towards Falcon now. This road was in desperate need of widening and safetyfying (sp?). So what does the county do? They make it safer by building a bypass to the south of the oringinal alignment that's only two lanes wide. *sigh*

Here's how the original alignment of Woodmen ends. A paved culdesac and traffic cones. That's nice.

On US 24 headed east from Falcon and Colorado Springs. This truss bridge is one of two I've encountered in Colorado. The other is on US 6 outside of Gypsum east of Glenwood Springs.

Closer to the truss bridge. The bridge on the left used to carry the Rock Island Railroad tracks. Now it's a trail that runs from Colorado Springs to ... uhmmm.... somewhere out east of the city.

Now inside the bridge. Check out that detailing.