I think it's really really easy, with all the issues we're facing as mankind and states, to forget what marvels of enginiering, sociology and planning our modern society is. Highways, skylanes, modern building, electrical or water infrastructure are all incredebly mundane things for us that are incredible feats of planning & design if you look closer that would be called miracles by people just one or two-hundred years ago. We can't be constantly in awe, and we should strive to adress the issues of our time but sometimes it's good to remember what amazing feats our modern society is too.

I think some of the modern tunneling techniques today would not disrupt wildlife in that spot.

Yes, we should thank the people at Mead & Hunt who already did that research and published a 76-page history on the topic in 2019, entitled "Vail Pass Segment of Interstate Highway 70" and freely available online. As far as I can tell, this document serves as the source for almost all of the historical narrative presented in this video, as well as many of the figures. It's in their works cited in the description. I like Wendover Productions a lot, but their talent mostly comes from how they present information in a digestible manner with helpful visuals, a well as their choice of esoteric but fascinating topics. And of course it would be impossible to do extensive and original research for their videos given the rate at which they publish them. I think their research skills come more from taking aspects of a narrative and elaborating on the logistics, for example using a Florida study to understand the issues in Colorado. Obviously this isn't hard to find, government studies are extremely easy to find and they cover every aspect of infrastructure.

@@loldoctorwell not every country has that or even do the study in the first place.

Nope. This has been very well document. I have five books on my shelf of this subject alone. Your lack of understanding does not increase the complexity of the world around you.

Wow! Thank you for your service and patience!

Yea, they still do that. They have a traffic light up there now. I have to wait on your guys every winter when the pass is closed. Love this rocky mountain ice skating!

@@mikerheynolds2193 And the worst part of those closures is when it's actively snowing because the lack of consistent traffic allows the road on either side of the tunnel to ice over more easily, making it one hell of an ice rink for the cars once they re-open it. Some of the most stressful road driving I've ever done in the US!

You r the man. My first week driving a semi by myself my company decided that the best trip for me to take was to L A and then back via I 70. Never again

If you look into the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire from 1999, you'll know why they take those precautions

This is why we a 25 + Veteran driver I typically chose I40 or I10 routes in the winter

sounds fun

That stretch of I80 between laramie and cheyenne is nicknamed the Snow Minh trail.

I didn't anticipate this driving i80 in the winter once. blindling blizzard and winds I had never experienced before. I was white knuckles for 6+ hours straight. I was in the right lane with my hazards on and semis were outpacing me by what felt like 20 mph hahaha

​@@OwenHehif you have to drive with your flashers on pull over.

I never considered that cultural speeding would be a factor that engineers have to consider. In America, we take a lot for granted about our road system.

I suspect that snow/ice less of a factor in the East Africa Rift area compared to the rocky mountains. You aren't as worried about stopped or slow cars losing side traction and sliding off the road.

I have never heard of the term "Cultural Speeding" Are there any other areas of the world that have that problem?

@@MarkPemble I suppose it has to do with the madness that is driving in 3rd world countries in general

@@MarkPemble Many; Italy, Russia, Germany etc...If you drive in those place you'd see...MANIACS!

same here

Probasbly going to be next episode lol

​@@Seedknowing how much Sam from HAI loves planes, no doubt he will make a video about runways

WHO TF ARE YOU

you're probably waiting for someone to buy your channel😂

Same, but my parents never let me drive as a child ☹

@@ChemEDan that’s the thing about being a child 💀

they had to drop those supports in by airlifting them with helicopters

Should check out the "Interstate" roads in Hawaii. They are built the same way with several mile stretches of road being elevated above the landscape by massive concrete pillars.

Declined a second date with a girl I was very attracted to because she told me that she once was driving west while high and took that stretch without getting gas first. She had her dog in the car and there are SO MANY signs, I just couldn’t handle how dangerously irresponsible that is.

@@middlemusedid she run out of gas? Also, people make mistakes and grow from them. Your loss

​@@middlemuseWas the dog alright??

@@jaggerpirtle3766 "people make mistakes" My man getting high then driving into the middle of nowhere with your dog is not just irresponsible, but suicidal. He wasn't losing anything.

I regularly drive through an area where the sign says "NEXT SERVICES 130 MILES - NO FUEL FOR THE NEXT 145 MILES" From Whites City NM to El Paso on 62/180......that is a bit of a shock when you think about it for the first time you pass that sign. The road is good and the sights are pretty awesome....but remote??? Yeah.....oh yeah.

As a truck driver (now local in Indiana), I can testify that the highway are "soaked in red", to this day. I have seen chilling things myself, so I can only imagine what driving was like for your grandfather, back then! With the way Colorado seems to be changing, from the perspective of a Hoosier that dreams/dreamed of moving to Colorado once, I wish you the best in staying there forever. Too many people moving there, and trying to make it into something it's not, at least that's what I hear. Hold to what you got, while you can. Oh, and hopefully people will stop stealing all of y'all's water!!

May I ask what you mean by soaked in red? Like the amount of people who died before there was a solution? And I’m a proud Colorado native, we’re so blessed to live in this beautiful state

Is it Coloradan or Coloridian? Or Coloradinikan?

Yeah, I immediately recognized I-70 (Glenwood Canyon area?) at the beginning.

@@PrayedForYou colonoscopy

You live in Pilot? Thats cool, And having Colorado as your job is pretty cool too

⁠@@PrayedForYouColoradan

Would Red Buffalo Pass be worse in winter or better? We lived in GJ for 7 years and would travel over to Denver every Thanksgiving and, like clockwork, the road conditions were always icy. I literally had PTSD after I had an accident on ice in Oregon before moving there so that was always fun… but I always wondered if the alternative was better.

the only time its terrifying is when you cant see your hood because of the snow falling. otherwise...its ok.

​@@LeelssDeltadifferent tolerances

​@@LeelssDelta I was about to suggest not visiting in winter, especially without previous winter driving experience.

I drove it yesterday. The traffic is the scary part to me.

I-70's a piece-o-cake. Do some of the two-lane state highways across the Rockies. Some will provide decent brown-pants moments, lol...

and rolled over super truckers at the eastbound entrance. Seen the scars in that curve lately? Last winter it seemed like every week there was one rolled over between there and No Name. Boy, I can't wait to see what this winters holds!

Yeah, the constraint on construction through there was "don't touch anything." They had to keep track of the plants that would be impacted and move them as little possible. And it's a stunning drive, the way the freeway rises and falls and soars around and through the canyon.

My mom had to pass through Glenwood Canyon while that stretch was under construction WHILE SHE WAS IN LABOR. I wasn’t there but it sounds like it was a pretty traumatic day.

@middlemuse I remember going through the construction as a kid. It was one way so they'd halt a whole side of the freeway for 45 minutes while the other direction came through then switch. I remember crossing the freeway and going down to the Colorado River and playing for half an hour when we would drive from Denver to Salt Lake.

The Grizzly creek fire and subsequent mudslides have made the canyon a shitshow in the past few years too.

Somehow Winter Park gets once daily ski train service and nobody else does.

@daniellewis1789 not a mystery -- Winter Park was built where the train already ran -- My grandma used to take the train to Winter Park to go skiing back in the early 1940s when she was a student at U of Denver.

@@otsoko66 There are other resorts that plausibly could see ski service but don't. That's the puzzler.

Gosh how I'd love to ride a frequent train service from Denver to Frisco in the winter...

Indeed, a train service would make the trip to the ski slopes very relaxing! The ride we took from Westminster/Thornton to Copper Mountain was not bad, but took at least an hour. A train would be very convenient.

I agree. And the original line built up and over Rollins Pass is an incredible marvel until they built Moffatt Tunnel which is also a marvel.

Was that the once in a century event that caused all the landslides and flooding? I bet that blew your mind to see the awesome power of mama nature. Thank you for rebuilding it so I can travel through to see my relatives in Oklahoma. It's a beautiful drive.

@@Hogslice due to the lack of vegetation because of the fire & the heavy amount of rail fall that followed caused the mud slides. Could be a issue until vegetation takes root

The entire story of building the roadway and railroad through the canyon is interesting and would be a great video.

This is half as interesting , who’s wendover

imagine spending 20 dollars to write a comment... and then not even get mentioned or liked... hilarious

Not completely related, but US infrastructure spending is often judged to be much less efficient. In subway construction, for example, US was paying like 2-3 times more per km than peer countries like France. The US paid about 550 mil USD/km on average for rapid rail transit. It was 310 in Australia, 300 in Germany, 250 in France, 260 in Canada, 200 in Austria, 190 in Norway, 130 in Switzerland. (UK and NZ were few that had higher prices than the US). This has nothing to do with labor costs as if you look it up, Norway and Switzlerland have very high GDP per capita figures (only IR and LX are higher) and they build at one of the cheapest prices. One of the things they point to as the cause is that US just doesn't build consistently. There'll be a big burst of spending for maybe 5 years and then it spends, the institutional and technical knowledge gets lost and when it starts falling apart 30 years later, it's basically starting from scratch. Successful cities/countries, on the other hand, keep building, always.

@@chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 wouldn't economies of scale also come into play here, since the US has much less in miles of passenger rail per land area than those countries?

The crossing of the Alps was similarly a very big challenge for a long time, because there too is a tall and steep mountain range stretched across the Alps without any larger valleys cutting through it. Since 1967 there is the Felbertauernstraße with a 5.3km long tunnel which was large enough for trucks to pass through. Later in 1971 there was the highway over the Brenner, which is still by far the most important road connection between Austria and Italy. That highway is bridged up for the most part. I can't compare it directly to the I70, but it must have been quite expensive to build. High demand is now causing frequent congestion there, mostly from trucks. That's why a 64km long rail tunnel (Brenner base tunnel) is now being built that simply cuts below the mountains and should take over most of the cargo traffic. In Switzerland the Gotthard base, opened in 2016, has a similar concept with 57km length. From what the video told me I would say that I70 is situated much higher around 3400m, whereas the Brenner highway is only as high as 1400m. But the Rocky Mountains around there don't look as steep as the Alps.

​@@YAOMTCyes but also no, I guess. But we can't predict the future. Would it even out if the US built always, so that trains would be more accessible, so more people would travel, so more money is collected from fares, so it could be cheaper, so even more people would travel, so there would be greater demand for better rail, so etc etc?

as an austrian that were my thoughts. I know nothing about roads, but I wonder how the alpine roads compare to this.

I LOVE US 550. When the weather is good (ie: summer), it's an absolute blast to drive. But I grew up in Colorado and learned to drive on mountain roads. My most recent 550 experience was taking a Veloster N at a nice clip on a perfect spring day. Absolute joy, plus Silverton and Ouray are such neat little mountain towns.

i was reading that a major highway in a metropolitan area costs like $20M-$30M/mile. is it really that expensive?

@@Masrafi sounds par for the course, especially if there is any land acquisition involved. Roads are expensive.

That’s awesome. I’m from Colorado and studying civil engineering at Montana state currently. I hope to be a transportation engineer like you eventually

I travel to see new counties and this road happened on a trip from steamboat springs to durango via moffatt county a few days after it snowed. What an amazing road. It makes up for a lot of empty counties I’ve seen in Texas.

It definitely could survive a nuclear bomb 😅

@@Mcfunface Although anyone choosing that area for a nuclear bomb would be confusingly misguided.

There's a few of these in Florida over a stretch of I-95 between Jacksonville and St Augustine where each side of the road is basically just wilderness. Might be more, but those were the ones that caught my eye while driving. They look like abandoned/overgrown pedestrian crossing overpasses. All the fencing and the ramps on either side were covered in vining plants, so the wildlife see it as a safe path. Seems like it works too bc there was very little roadkill when I drove through that stretch. Was very cool to see that attention given to the local animals!

Nevada has been installing wildlife bridges in some places for this purpose. I wish Idaho can do the same, especially on I-84 right at the Idaho/Utah state line, as there are so many Elk standing in the roadway in the winter

If anyone wants to know why construction costs in the US are astronomically sky high compared to other civilized nations, it's because when ignorant people say stupid things like "we should build wildlife overpasses" they are usually ignored. In the US, the concerns of the ignorant are mandated by every government contract, regardless of cost, feasibility, or necessity. These environmental concerns tack on years and exorbitant costs, all of which gets funneled to private consulting firms (who have no obligation to the general public's best interests) with absolutely zero real benefit to anyone other than the handful of owners of those private consulting firms.

​@randomamerican8236 your post makes no sense.

Washington state has a couple

I'm pretty sure he is from Glenwood Springs

I know right! It makes me feel special when he does Colorado videos or even mentions it ❤

For me its *Half As Interesting* ;)

Namaste

Being a road makes this video even better

Indeed!!! I feel like I’ve been looked after ❤

I'm betting the writer "corrected" some of the information that they researched after remembering being told that centrifugal forces don't really exist, but without understanding that they aren't just interchangeable terms. And centrifugal forces don't exist as a physical thing -- the car isn't being pushed out of the loop by some magic force, it's just going to keep moving in a straight line until something makes it curve. But you can still talk about them meaningfully in a mathematical sense (e.g. from the car's inertial reference frame), and it would have been reasonable to say counteracting centrifugal forces here. But even more correct would be to say that the ramps *increase* centripetal force. So the statement is exactly backwards from what would be true.

​@@TylerMcHenryWhat forces "exist" depends on your reference frame. In a rotating reference frame, centrifugal force definitely exists.

@@TylerMcHenryit's all a model, nothing really exists, only practical and useful mathematical representations of physical observations

Actually 🤓the slope helps to add centripetal forces so that the inertia of the automobile doesn't take it off the road

​@@TylerMcHenry If we're nitpicking, wouldn't the total centripetal force in the plane of the turn be the same? Just turning some shear force on the tires into normal force

I have almost quit going skiing at the I-70 corridor resorts because of the traffic. Even just getting up and down Berthoud (for Winter Park) can be a bear with traffic backing up from Floyd Hill through Idaho Springs.

How so? You mean passing bricks or solid like a brick?

Bro is bricked up learning about roads 💀

dawg

Hai reference

Well yeah... It's a 20 minute video. Did you expect him to go super in depth on something that normally 4 years of college and years of on the job training?

@@Xailow no, did i say i expected that? I’m just letting people know there’s more to explore if they wanted

I'm not a road engineer but I do read the DMRB 'design manual for roads and bridges' seeing the standards of how motorways and fast roads (and roads in built up areas) are built in the UK

@@MrSlipperysealthe guy has a point… it’s literally just a KZfaq video so you bringing up that it’s not extensive is inherently unnecessary and most likely to be seen as you arrogantly demanding blueprints and the like

Indeed both are amazing

Once you go over soldier summit to join up with i70 just past Price, the real journey begins lol

This is something I've noticed in Colorado, the road paint is generally not reflective at all, makes things a little tricky at night.

Coincidentally, I took the tunnel at the highest point in the entire Interstate Highway system to move a mile away from the lowest tunnel in the entire Interstate Highway system (Fort Mchenry tunnel in Baltimore!) 😆

It wouldn't have been able to follow I-70 exactly either, rail lines have tighter tolerances for gradients and curvature.

Some people just do not understand long term benefit

At least the Amtrak from Denver to Grand Junction is a rather pretty, if somewhat slow, ride. I do recommend it for a leisurely, but beautiful experience.

Expensive, and largely pointless, since the California Zephyr already runs from Union Station to Grand Junction. The only gap was from DIA to Union Station, which is now covered by the RTD A Line.

​@@johnchedsey1306It would be a monumental undertaking to get a rail to go faster through those mountains.