James from Lamar writes,
Whats driving you crazy? Why did CDOT kill the Colfax exit signs from I-70 in favor of most lame Piccadilly Road? Colfax has been called Denvers main street, and the recent name change is leaving drivers, and GPS, trying to find how to get to Colfax Avenue. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi I mean Jayson. Youre my only hope!In the old days, East Colfax pretty much started and ended at I-70. Going east on Colfax, you would have to transition right onto I-70 and there was an easy, left side exit from westbound I-70 to take traffic off the interstate to Colfax Ave. That was one of the reasons to give Colfax Ave the I-70 business loop designation. Business loops were designed to bring drivers back into city centers that were bypassed by a new interstate.
Now, there is a new interchange called Picadilly that replaces the Colfax exit and entrance at I-70 and allows for much better traffic flow to and from the developments north and south of the interstate. It also leads you to the south to connect to the new Picadilly/Colfax interchange. CDOT tells me this is the reason they have all I-70 signing reference Piccadilly Road as that is the new exit, not Colfax. The city of Aurora maintains this new interchange and they would be responsible to install any new signage like references to Colfax but that is not likely to happen as the new interchange is Picadilly and new signs cost money the city does not want to spend.
As for GPS systems finding East Colfax, those systems have already been adjusted and locals like you already know where you need to go. I tested several mapping systems including Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze and all easily led me to the new Colfax/Picadilly interchange from I-70.
Look, eventually we will not need to read road signs as the R2D2 droid driving your vehicle will already know how to get you where you want to go autonomously. Until then, with new interchanges, comes new signage.
Driving You Crazy - What happened to the Colfax signs on I-70?Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on or or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including , , , , or .
