Freeways: LA vs. Vail

After reading through the blog entries that had already been posted, Maia and Melissa’s entries on freeways made me think about my own experiences with freeways and how they have or have not benefited where I have grown up. I live in Vail, Colorado, a small ski town about two hours from Denver. Despite having a lot of outdoor activities to participate in, the only way to access a larger city is through one highway, I-70. I-70 connects all the mountain towns and is the sole way for anything to be transported to and from Denver. Whenever there is a snow storm, accident, or falling rocks off of the mountains there can be delays that last up to hours, and more often than not multiple sections of I-70 are closed, prohibiting anyone traveling by car. This can cause a lot of problems for people living in towns like mine; grocery stores run out of food, flights are missed, etc. When the highway is closed, those already traveling have to find somewhere to stay until the freeway is re-opened.
Even though I-70 connects towns and neighborhoods instead of dividing or breaking them up, it can be a major inconvenience when it is closed and there is no other way to access other places such as the airport, large shopping centers, and other businesses that are not available in the small mountain towns such as mine. Unlike Vail, freeways in LA are numerous and were used to break up neighborhoods and areas that were deemed a lesser priority than others. Like I-70, LA’a freeways connect people to other areas of the city, like Disneyland, however because of the multiple highways in place there is more than one way to access where you want to go. When there is traffic or a road closed in Vail, you either sit on the road for hours and wait it out or never reach your destination until the problem passes. In LA, you either sit in traffic, or find a new route.