Colorado Senate approves bill to deter trucks from Independence Pass

[Maria]

By Keith Goble, Land Line state legislative editor

Colorado state lawmakers have cleared the way for a bill to become law, which would boost the deterrent for drivers of large vehicles who illegally attempt to cross Independence Pass.

State law prohibits oversize and overweight vehicles – including vehicles or combination vehicles longer than 35 feet, regardless of size – from using the pass that connects Twin Lakes and Aspen. There are signs on each side of the pass, which is typically open for six months each year from Memorial Day through mid-November, indicating the restriction. Violators face fines of $500.

full story

 

[Injun]

From the article:

Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, said he is opposed to the stiffer fines.

“It sends a message out to the trucking industry that Colorado is not in the market to do business with them,” Crowder said. “If anything, on this particular bill we should be trying to lower the fines because of how valuable the trucking industry is to the state.”

Crowder is wrong. There are places trucks just should not go. This is one of them.



This detail is the third point going up, closest to Point B on the above satellite image:


For scale: (looks like a pickup haulin' his toys up the hill)



*waits for the oversized ego crowd to start in about how this road is "nothing" and they've driven it a gazillion times*

 

[Duck]

In Injun's third screenshot above, .. what the hell is "SNOOP ALLEZ" and that other stuff painted on the road for?

“The point of trying to deter trucks from using the pass is not revenue, but saving lives and property.”

Bull****.

If that was the case, those lawmakers who are pretending that it's about safety will pick up the phone & call Rand McNally & tell them to quit highlighting it as a truck route in their Motor Carrier atlas.

Posting signs in a place like that, .. a sign you don't even see until you're in Twin Lakes after dropping down Rt 24 from I-70 is too little, too late. I've been in situations like that in other areas & said "F*** you, you should've posted a sign about 100 miles back, I ain't got time to go the other way now" and went ahead on through. In upstate New York once, there was an 11 foot bridge on a state highway & they didn't post any signs until 1/4 mile ahead of it. They had a big paved loop for trucks to turn around, and a sign showing the route around it, which was well over 100 miles & included back-tracking east about 30 miles where there should've been signs but weren't. I fired up my laptop & found a way around it on residential streets. I passed some guy in his lawn who looked like he was yelling at me. I gave him the finger. If he has a problem with me tearing up his street (trailer was empty, BTW) he'd petition the state to post signs further back so I wouldn't waste time & fuel driving all the way up to that 11 foot bridge just to turn around & back-track a long distance.