{"id":805766,"date":"2020-03-27T11:25:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T17:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=381057"},"modified":"2020-03-27T11:25:24","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T17:25:24","slug":"eisenhower-tunnel-traffic-numbers-tell-a-stark-tale-about-covid-19-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/eisenhower-tunnel-traffic-numbers-tell-a-stark-tale-about-covid-19-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Eisenhower Tunnel traffic numbers tell a stark tale about COVID-19 shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pictured here on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, the Eisenhower\u2013Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel is celebrating a major milestone in Colorado\u2019s history. The Eisenhower bore (westbound) was completed in 1973, while the Johnson bore (eastbound) finished in 1979 and is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n
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The Eisenhower\/Johnson Memorial Tunnels pictured Jan. 7. The tunnels have seen a steep decline in traffic since Gov. Jared Polis closed the state\u2019s ski areas. <\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

EAGLE \u2014 Sometimes numbers really do tell the whole story.<\/p>\n

In the days since Gov. Jared Polis shut down the state\u2019s ski resorts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, there has been an 80% decline in Friday westbound traffic at the Eisenhower\/Johnson Memorial Tunnels compared with March 2019. Sunday eastbound traffic is down 74% compared with the same time last year. That\u2019s according to data compiled by Margaret Bowes, director of the Interstate 70 coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know the cause,\u201d Bowes said. \u201cUsually, decreasing I-70 congestion is a good thing, but not under this scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fascinating to see how much traffic our tourism-based economy draws,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Personnel at the Colorado Department of Transportation are watching the numbers but aren\u2019t sure what practical insight they can offer. Elise Thatcher, communications officer for the CDOT Northwest Region, said there are many factors at play with the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is less traffic; however, we don\u2019t have enough information to provide an analysis of all the factors contributing to the reduction and by how much,\u201d Thatcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can definitively say is Colorado\u2019s highways are open, including at every state border, unless a road is closed for construction or weather-related safety issues,\u201d Thatcher said. \u201cWe are working closely with the commercial freight industry to make sure they\u2019re able to transport food, health care materials and other critical items.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is from EagleValleyEnterprise.com.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictured here on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, the Eisenhower\u2013Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel is celebrating a major milestone in Colorado\u2019s history. The Eisenhower bore (westbound) was completed in 1973, while the Johnson bore (eastbound) finished in 1979 and is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-18 03:12:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}