Not only that, three July 2016 weekends (that’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday) now account for the top-three counts ever through the mountain tunnel, each north of 150,000. It was last year that the tunnel also experienced an all-time high in a single year with 11.8 million vehicles. That’s more than a 7-percent upswing (almost 87,000 more cars) over the same month total for 2015. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) confirmed a record number of commuters - more than 1.3 million - traveled through Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnel along Interstate 70 during just the month of July, many of who were headed to, or at least, stopping in Summit. Recently released figures show it’s not just your imagination. How much has Colorado grown in fifty years? That much.If you live in Summit County or visit often, you’ve noticed what seems like significant jumps in weekend foot and vehicle traffic. Forty years later, on March 20, 2020? Almost the same number - because of the pandemic. On March 20, 1980, a little over 12,000 vehicles passed through the tunnel in 24 hours. Johnson, who was a strong supporter of the interstate highway system, like Ike. It was named for former Colorado governor and senator Edwin C. The Eisenhower Memorial Bore was completed in 1973, but its twin, the Johnson Memorial Bore, wasn’t completed until almost 1980. She wore overalls on her shifts - a “good disguise,” she said.ĥ. Even so, on November 9, 1972, she started work there, and after some media coverage, she folded herself into the otherwise all-male workforce. The workers were largely against her inclusion, reportedly calling her a "jinx” and threatening a walk out if she was allowed to enter the tunnel. Bonnema sued the department for the right to work inside the tunnel - especially since she was in better shape than most of the male workers. Its construction is one of Colorado’s earliest tales of women’s rights: Janet Bonnema applied for a position, and the supervisor in charge of hiring misread her name as “James.” She was given the job, but when her gender was revealed, she was put to work doing office work. That sounds like a lot, but consider that Elon Musk has lost three times that much since he bought Twitter. Its original cost in 2023 dollars is estimated somewhere between 2 and 3 billion dollars. Here are ten reasons to celebrate the big birthday of the underrated Eisenhower Tunnel:ġ. A half-century of engineering achievement is a pretty big deal, and CDOT and the Colorado State Patrol are planning to join the tunnel crew on March 8 this year to celebrate “ Connecting Colorado for 50 Years.”
And that it opened for the first time on Mawhich means it’s just about to turn the big 5-0.
That it punches right through the Continental Divide, marking the line of demarcation between the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds. That at an elevation of 11,155 feet, it was the highest tunnel in the world for many years, and is still the highest in the United States. There’s a lot about the tunnel that's common knowledge - that it actually comprises two double-bore twin tunnels a little over a mile and a half long. But don’t let its simple utility fool you: The Eisenhower Tunnel is one of the most important facilities in the entire state, generating not only commercial traffic, but greatly increased tourism dollars. The Eisenhower Tunnel isn’t one of Colorado’s primary tourist attractions.
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