Thursday, October 27, 2011

Speeding Up Denver Ski Season Traffic ... By Going Slower


  • ERIC JAFFE
  • OCT 26, 2011
The Atlantic CITIES
On a Sunday in late September, at about a quarter past 11 in the morning, a police car flicked on its emergency lights and raced ahead of traffic heading eastbound toward Denver on Interstate 70. No doubt one or two drivers near the front of the herd thought they were getting pulled over. But the officer driving didn't have speeding tickets in mind. Instead, the cruiser settled in front of the pack and immediately began to travel at exactly 55 mph.
The goal was to act as a pace car for the 2,000 or so drivers making the 27-mile trek from Silverthorne to Empire Junction, toward Colorado's big city. The officer's primary job was to make sure no eager lead foot burst out ahead of the others — in short, to keep everyone in the pack near 55 mph. The event was repeated every ten minutes or so until a quarter past 3 that afternoon. It was the second in a series of trial runs for a traffic management program called "rolling speed harmonization."


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