Avoiding traffic.

• Author: SCHWAB, ROBERT
• Position: Brief Article

I stopped driving to work on Interstate 25 seven years ago, when a crease developed in the hood of my 1980 Chevrolet pickup truck, and I was afraid a blustery wind might pop the hood to block my view.

I found out then that my commute to downtown Denver didn't last any longer fighting the northbound traffic on University Avenue than it did when I drove the Valley Highway.

Now, nearly 10 years later, I find the east-west trip on Arapahoe Road -- underneath the highway and out past Centennial Airport to our offices -- can be just as frustrating as either north-south route was then.

And I'm not even still driving that old truck.

This month's magazine is chock full of transportation stories:

Sue Marek writes about a season of turmoil at United Airlines; Pete Lewis tells you what to expect for the next seven years along I-25 from Broadway to Lincoln Avenue; and Stephen Titus, in our Who Owns Colorado feature, reports on the remarkable job growth that has occurred along I-25 north of Colorado Springs.

That last piece offers a clue to why getting around on I-25 has become so difficult. Nearly 10,000 workers are employed along the highway just south of Monument Hill.

Most of those jobs have landed there in the past five years.

"Isn't that incredible?" said Brian Vogt, president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. "We forget things have really changed."

Vogt is looking forward to the completion of the Southeast Corridor Project, a double-barreled, seven-year, $1.6 billion widening of I-25, and the installation of a light-rail line down its center.

But he knows the construction project is not going to be easy to live with.

"It's like trying to remodel your...