No one can get a speeding ticket in Jerusalem anymore because the traffic is so bad. No one can drive faster than 15 miles per hour there.
Substitute “Denver,” or, more specifically, I-25, for “Jerusalem.”
Fifteen years ago, the transportation experts undertook the massive “T-Rex” project which expanded I-25 from two lanes on each side to up to five lanes on each side from Broadway south to County Line Road. T-Rex also added light rail along the I-25 corridor to take cars off that major thoroughfare. The construction was complicated. Every morning for nearly five years, commuters woke up to a differently configured freeway from the day before. It took patience. It took nerves. But we cooperated.
At first, T-Rex seemed to work. Traffic did flow better. People took to light rail. Rush hour tempers subsided.
For a few years.
Whether it’s the legalization of pot, the natural allure of Colorado or Denver’s senseless approval of new apartments with no parking, rush hour is now anything but a rush. T-Rex was innovative and effective for a time, but I-25 is now once again a horror show.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
