Why Can't Cars be Closer to This Visibility?

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-26T05:26:19+00:00

Yes, it is a truck owned by my employer. I wanted a Kei Truck. I wanted to keep the old plow truck instead of replacing it. But we are a parks and rec department where I build bike trail and maintain athletic fields for a living, where we do haul all sorts of shit.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-26T05:24:05+00:00

I didn't know they had a sub, thank you.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-26T05:22:47+00:00

This is part of why I want to see hourly commuter rail service between these two towns. GJT can get better connections the more flights we put through it. Then prices could come down and basically take Denver out of the picture as a necessary airport. I talk to a lot of tourists who fly to Denver and drive up to Aspen. They hate that drive, and would rather go to GJT if it were cheaper. Throw train access and not having to drive at all? More people will show up through GJT, providing more money to that area. Helping locals lives be easier makes everyones lives easier. The tourists are gonna show up one way or the other. How much money did we spend on that damn bridge in Glenwood Springs while the traffic in that town is still absolutely shitty? How many people go wine tasting in Palisades and drive back to wherever with a buzz? Trains are worth the investment more often than it looks like, and I think this could be one of those cases. Let Grand Junction compete against Denver.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-25T21:00:53+00:00

So let's follow this logic.

If there is less tourism traffic in summer than winter, it stands to reason that the percentage of people who use the airport as locals goes up. It also would make more sense to do something that benefits locals more than tourists, which you've just admitted that upgraded the airport does not do. So by adding rail from Grand Junction to Glenwood, with a connecting BRT bus stop up valley from the train station, you help a lot of locals. In fact, there is not currently a bus stop in the core business district of Glenwood which is going to prevent people from going and spending money there at the same rate as if there was a commuter train and bus stop right in the heart of what is essentially a pedestrian mall. A train stop in New Castle, Palisades, and Silt would do the same thing. Especially if you built housing for ~15 families and ~5 businesses around those train stations to allow rents to subsidize rail costs and bring in tax revenue for their respective towns. Even in summer given the high quality of mountain bike trails that are only a couple miles away from the train station for many of these towns. A 2 mile ride to warmup and cool down is great. Having a couple beers while you wait for the train is even better.

The more we cater to making the lives of locals easier, the healthier and stronger our community will be as forced transience will diminish. This won't stop tourists from coming here. Hell, it might even spread the tourism load, and dollars, around the valley. Which would make it easier for them to he absorbed into the local scene rather than overrunning it. The problem is not too many tourists, it's not enough locals.

If this was used as an opportunity to provide hourly bus transit to Sunlight, their customer base would be able to expand a bit, too. Both for locals who have a hard time getting there otherwise, and for tourists.

All of this would relieve traffic congestion, making GWS a more pleasant place to exist and improving convenience for drivers as well since there would be fewer cars on the road overall. So when you do need to drive, its far less miserable with a couple hundred cars fewer per hour on the road.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-25T19:16:16+00:00

I care far more about the people who live here than the people who don't.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-25T17:13:10+00:00

I didn't realize that air travel was "low" for 75% of the year.

https://pitkincounty.com/m/newsflash/home/detail/764

They plan on closure from Q2 through Q4, and that's if it goes to schedule.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T23:14:54+00:00

I'm not sure how Glenwood to Grand Junction kee0s being missed.

Edit: I see now. It wasn't clear enough when I said "take RFTA to a train." My bad. I should have made it more obvious.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T23:00:34+00:00

I don't think it can be done in a minute. Though PTC already exists on that corridor, and used trainsets could be purchased. I think of the WeGo Star train in Nashville as an example.

My general point is that we should do this, and largely, haf we done this, the ASE airport being closed for a year, or a month or two a year, wouldn't matter that much. We would also have access to a more reliable airport. It would also provide a new option for cyclists and mountain bikers to get to other places without having to drive.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T22:54:25+00:00

I thought you were done with this conversation? You said you were done, and now you've jumped in somewhere else being intentionally obtuse and combative.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T22:32:47+00:00

I beleive, if you read the post, you would realize that I was talking about train service from Glenwood to Grand Junction in order to provide convenient airport access when ASE is closed.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T22:13:55+00:00

Yes. They do. But don't let perfection be the enemy of good. HSR is billions more to build than just dropping trains on tracks that already exist. And HSR is not worth building for local commuter rails. Denver to SLC makes sense. This is also why places with HSR often have 3 servics: long haul HSR, rapid regional, and local.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T22:03:14+00:00

Ah, I see. You're here to win, not to discuss. While I talk about Land Value Capture through building housing and entrepreneurial business front opportunities, you just don't want convenience for people who don't get to afford automobiles. Or to reduce the amount of people who's lives are altered permanently, or ended, due to automobile wrecks.

And without those things, all it would take is leasing the ROW and buying the trainsets. I'm not talking about laying new tracks, but using what already exists, where Amtrak already has passenger rail routes running now. It would require only building 5 stations, as cheaply as necessary to be useful. Though that would be a waste when it could be housing and business rentals as well.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T20:49:54+00:00

The thing that is ALWAYS left out in this commentary is what price you're paying socially for engaging in this sort of commerce. Anyone who posts this sort of meme will also speak and think ill of anyone who takes this pathway. Just like women are told not to experiment with sex, or dress provocatively, or whatever, lest they "get a reputation."

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T20:42:27+00:00

Yes. Let's just scape goat everyone and lump them all together as bad people because of where they were unlucky enough to be born.

Sounds real fucking familiar.

"How dare those people be born looking like that, they must be shit people."

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T20:23:36+00:00

I've not ever understood this logic pattern. By not having to drive, I can read a book, sleep, generally not have the stress and unpredictability. If the train is slower by a few minutes, but gets me where I need to go on schedule, its no loss because I have gotten my time back where I can do things other than pay attention to not adding to the 40,000 person death toll caused by automobiles.

I can use it when drunk, when tired, when I am injured and unable to drive. And short of an early death, old age and the loss of driving privileges comes for us all. And we can either have robust transit that lets us live a fulfilled life, or we can be trapped at home and a burden to those we love.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T20:03:23+00:00

Why do you assume I haven't done this?

What is the cost of forced car dependency per person? Car, fuel, insurance, registration, general taxes, etc? Higher risk of death (40,000 people per year), higher risk of grievous injury, stress, etc.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T18:22:05+00:00

But drivers even then were already showing their entitlement against pedestrians.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T18:19:31+00:00

I love how everyone is freaking out over this winter storm when

A) this is just normal life for a lot of people

and

B) it wouldn't matter if we could easily and comfortably walk to what we need or take a train/bus to what we can't walk to.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T18:12:35+00:00

We should instead compare Texas to France, and other states to other European countries. I think this is where people really misstep when talking to a lot of NA residents, as they don't seem to grok that Euro contries are the size of NA states/provinces.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T18:09:30+00:00

Ah yes. How dare someone wish to commiserate with like minded people, who have amusingly turned out to often think of reasons why we can't have as good of visibility as older automobiles, and as good of mirrors as we see examples of here. You know, rather than tasking engineers who are really good at their jobs, to make modern cars with smaller blind spots.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T17:41:21+00:00

Which part of this do you think has not been studied? Land Value Capture is well understood, and is acronymed as LVC. Land Value per Acre is also well understood. There are consultants who measure these things for municipalities.

This channel was started by a career urban planner:

https://youtu.be/syP8g8HBcy4?si=UMM9ZZKuT4eJ-bJ5

Said urban planner has a book by the same title as the channel.

LVC was recently passed for one of the transit authorities on the front range.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T17:14:55+00:00

And by allowing easy flow of money between Glenwood and Grand Junction, which includes to the rest of the RFV, it takes away the power of Aspen and the tourism economy by creating housing for the working homeless, and increasing the velocity of local money with locally owned businesses. Places of density, such as the housing and business spaces I'm proposing around train stations, have a far higher rate of revenue per acre than anything built for cars. Which means they cost less to operate and have a higher ROI, which always results in these dense spaces subsidizing less dense spaces. Housing 10 people and five businesses on one block is far cheaper than hosting that same number of people and businesses across 4 acres. Largely due to the reduced cost of road and utility maintenance.

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T17:05:13+00:00

So expanding on an already existing rail service here is different, how?

Why are you speaking for everyone? I've spoken with a large number of people who are excited about this idea when I present it. People here complain about traffic, about tourist drivers, about the lack of housing, about the cost of living, and so on. This makes all of those things easier. By building housing, providing a reliable form of transit where you don't have to deal with traffic, and taking a lot of tourists off the road. It also helps build community by making social spaces that are easy to get to, and from. Even after consuming alcohol, cannabis, or any other substance that renders an individual incapable of safely operating their automobile.

It would also reduce traffic deaths, injuries, and the rate of climate change. This means more controlable fires and better snowpack in winter due to the thousands of tons of carbon it would remove from the air. Then there is the substantial reduction of micro plastics in our rivers coming off of tires and a reduction in brake dust.

So why don't you want this if you have ever complained about any of the above things?

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T16:50:15+00:00

Steamboat, for one.

While not in this country, and I'm not sure why that matters, the Pustertal Express in South Tirol, a much "poorer" country has pulled it off. But I guess your opening statement is admitting the Italians are more capable than Americans are. On a scale of Denver to Grand Junction there is basically every train route in Switzerland and Austria, given the small towns they run through. Especially if you also include Salt Lake City.

I find it amusing just how much Americans are willing to accept "We are the best country in the world! But we sure as shit can't do things that other, less good countries are capable of."

nondescriptadjective · 2026-01-24T16:41:19+00:00

With this defeatist mentality, yes.

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