Just over 3 million vehicles traveled I-70 through Summit County this ski season, November through mid-April.
That is weekend traffic only, including four-day holidays, making this season just barely busier than the past two winters.
Weekend ski season traffic on I-70 has topped 3 million vehicles only three times: this season, the 2021-2022 season, and the 2017-2018 season.
Stuck in the middle of all that traffic is Exit 205 at Silverthorne. It is the busiest interchange in Summit.
And CDOT has a staggering prediction for the next 20 years.
“We’ve done a lot of traffic modeling, trying to look at 20 years of traffic growth and what that does to this corridor,” CDOT’s mark Rogers says. “We’re looking at a 40-percent traffic increase on the corridor, from (Silverthorne) elementary school north of town to Lake Dillon Drive.”
That means up to 11,600 more vehicles every day driving through the confluence of Highway 9 and U.S. Highway 6 by the 2044-2045 ski season.
“The idea is: What improvements can we make in the existing four-lane footprint that could have some benefits?” Rogers continues. “And how does the interchange itself fit into that? It’s a fairly robust study.”
Silverthorne is pleading with CDOT to make Exit 205 a top priority.
For now, upgrading the exit is not in CDOT’s immediate plans.