Whether or not skiers and snowboarders noticed a difference, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) says that travel along the I-70 mountain corridor was improved this past winter. For those unfamiliar with the special level of hell that is I-70 traffic, just check out this video of how people cope when a two-hour drive takes seven. But there's good news: according to the Denver Post, from Frisco to C-470, there was a 35 percent drop in injury and fatal crashes and a 46 percent dip in weather-related crashes. CDOT is also celebrating other statistics, like the fact that unplanned closures were reduced by 16 percent, while the number of hours of delay longer than 75 minutes on eastbound I-70 was cut by 26 percent. State officials credit the improvements to improved infrastructure, better operations, and a public education campaign that asked people to "change their peak drive times" and make sure they had good tires. Some naysayers aren't buying the statistics, however, arguing instead that fewer storms can be credited for reducing weather-related crashes.
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