I-70 is a lot of things, including (mostly) predictable.
Traffic at the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels fell to a five-month low this past weekend, Oct. 18-20. Just over 102,000 cars traveled the tunnels in three days.
That’s down 17,000 cars in one week and more than 31,000 cars in two weeks.
But it doesn’t always play the by the rules. Volume this weekend was almost 11,000 cars lighter than the exact same time last year. There is no real explanation – weather and events were almost identical.
Outliers aside, I-70 tends to ride the same roller coaster every season, from summer peaks to leaf-peeing highs to October lows.
And, if this year follows the trend, it’s about to get even lower. Traffic tends to hit a low point in early November. It doesn’t fully recover until mid-December when holiday ski traffic kicks into high gear.
After that traffic depends almost completely on Mother Nature. If the snow is good the crowds are big – and so are the waits heading back to the Front Range.
Plan accordingly.