RECENT STORIES

NORTH DENVER’S NEWEST HOT SPOT: NSMC ( Leslie Teegarden )
E-470 board green-lights license plate toll ( Dan Christopherson )
Southbound 1-25 ramp to eastbound 1-76 will close ( CDOT )
Calling all artists ( CDOT )
Thornton hosts Family Field Day; Aug. 23 ( Lisa Wilson City of Thornton )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Thornton \\ Stories \\ News \\ Traffic

Those double yellow lines are getting longer

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Gerry Benner on 6/6/2007

In my 30+ years of driving North Metro Denver roads, I've noticed that the double yellow lines are getting longer and longer. 144th (Dillon Road) is basically 10+ miles of a single traffic-lane road with no passing zones. The road hasn't changed much, but is now almost entirely marked with a double yellow line -- so traffic moves only as fast as the slowest vehicle.

Highway 7 from I-25 to Boulder is much the same way. It's probably 15 miles of double yellow, so we seldom reach the speed limit, and usually travel 10 miles under the speed limit (except through Louisville where we're only 5 miles under in the 30MPH zone). I know safety is good, so I can't complain too much.

Back in the 70's we had a bit fewer cars on the road, so passing a slow vehicle was usually a safe act; and making left turns didn't have a green arrow to say when. Back then it was your responsibility to ensure you were safe. Now days safety is managed by the electronics and control systems inherit in our traffic signals. It's out-of-our-hands; commuting has become somewhat robotic.

I just wish commuting times weren't "getting longer" as well. A few "built-in" passing lanes (like we have in the mountains) sure would be nice to get around those vehicles that use the granny-gear for first, second, and third. Also, bicycle lanes would help keep people from dropping it down into their granny gear while going past someone on their bike. Unfortunately, with double yellow lines, we all only go as fast as the slowest or most-cautious vehicle. Unless road conditions improve, we're all in for longer commutes -- especially on snow-days.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 2 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Gerry Benner

Thornton , CO

Gerry Benner has posted 8 stories and 9 comments since joining on 3/5/2007. Gerry Benner 's average story rating is 4.75.

view profile » view other postings from Gerry Benner »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Thornton

All stories by Gerry Benner

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad