Route 145 in Colorado

[Likes to tow]

No doubt about it....there are places where it is literally a sheer drop off. However, I believe that you just made their point....that some people greatly exagerate it and it's just not that bad. I have drove and rode my motorcycle many times up and down the Million Dollar Hwy over the years and "two inches from a sheer drop off of hundreds of feet" may be a bit of an exageration. While it may seem like inches while driving it, especially with no guard rails, here is a shot of the narrowest part of 550 going south.....

2 pages of photos last month...... https://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index....543#msg1493543


This next thread is six pages of photos but if you click on this link and scroll down you'll see a couple of shots of moose that I took a few years ago.....(by the way, I shot these photos while riding my motorcycle at speed!) https://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index....201#msg1326201


Here is a link to three pages of photos when I drove it in my 4x4 truck in the winter time back in 2013...... https://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index....386#msg1193386


Regarding how it got it's name...... depending on who you're talking to or what you're reading (even here on the internet. LOL), there are several different explanations.....here is a popular explanation...

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mil...hway-colorado/

Check out this video.......some of it may have fell off.....don't look like two feet to me! Of course with sweaty hands on the steering wheel and a wife saying "Oh my God" distance is hard to judge!! it will vary but there are some spots that are definitely inches from the edge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFc_NzavUsk

[JCZhome]

Check out this video.......some of it may have fell off.....don't look like two feet to me! Of course with sweaty hands on the steering wheel and a wife saying "Oh my God" distance is hard to judge!! it will vary but there are some spots that are definitely inches from the edge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFc_NzavUsk

Yep, great video but shot from a bad angle. They are headed north (the mountain side) while the photos in my most recent ride report from last month were shot going south (on the sheer cliff side). I mean tractor trailers drive that route every day as well as RVs, both towables and motorized units......several of them here at the Colorado Grand Design Rally came that way. We were talking about it again tonight. Not everybody is comfortable driving mountain roads.....I'm from the west and have been driving them all of my life. It's a nice, scenic drive but nothing dangerous if you can keep it between the lines.....the rest of it is just psychological.

[Russ Olin]

Have to chime in this post. Both my husband & I are Colorado Natives. And have traveled over Red Mtn Pass many times.
The road was originally built back in the late 1880's by a man named Otto Mears. It was built for the mining towns between Durango & Ridgeway.
There are a number of stories about how the road got its name of the “Million Dollar Highway.” These include a legend that the road was made from a million dollars worth of gold and silver filled tailings, another tale of a woman who traveled the road saying: “I would not travel that road again for a million dollars,” and another that the land was purchased for a million dollars.
However, the name came from a comment made at a planning meeting in 1921. At this time, a meeting was held to discuss plans to rebuild the highway. As the men reviewed the contracts to rebuild the highway, one gentleman remarked that all of the contracts added up to a figure very close to one-million dollars. In further comments, he began to refer to the road as “…this million-dollar highway….” and the name stuck.
It was also said that it cost a million dollars a mile to build.
Back about 30 years ago when Russ was working in Telluride & we lived @ Ridgeway I would travel solo with our big Malamute back & forth weekly over Red Mountain. It did not bother me to make the trip. I would usually go early in the mornings to avoid the tourist traffic.
So there is a little Colorado history from the Colorado Natives.
Debby

[JCZhome]

Jim Hudson posted this video yesterday, on his way here to Palisade for the Colorado Grand Design Rally, pulling his Solitude..... https://www.facebook.com/jim.hudson....7401733028180/

[Ribboy58]

I pulled my 310 over this road from Cortez to Ridgeway without any issues. You should be fine.

[JColeman]

Just did the Cortez-Ridgway drive a couple of weeks ago. There was no area where we were concerned. A little tight in a couple of temp construction zones but no issues.

I always wonder about people who are afraid about roads with no guard rails. Do you hit them often? Do you use them to keep you on the road? If you normally drive on a road without hitting a guard rail, why are you concerned about driving on roads without them?

[Calnca]

^^^^^Makes you wonder how they ever get through a two lane construction zone with k rails, and 18 wheelers coming at you taking their fair share

[JCZhome]

Just did the Cortez-Ridgway drive a couple of weeks ago. There was no area where we were concerned. A little tight in a couple of temp construction zones but no issues.

I always wonder about people who are afraid about roads with no guard rails. Do you hit them often? Do you use them to keep you on the road? If you normally drive on a road without hitting a guard rail, why are you concerned about driving on roads without them?

I've wondered the same thing.....do they use the guard rails kind of like bumper cars? Or are they using them for fender feelers like back in the 50s and 60s? Even if they had the guard rails, I don't think they're going to keep a truck and RV from going over if you're headed that direction.

Kind of makes you wonder if people that have these fears should even be towing an RV.......or driving at all.

[DougW9876]

Guard rails provide a sense of security, and a visual barrier which is very good for those of us with a fear of heights. If you haven’t this problem you won’t understand.

[Likes to tow]

My wife sits on that side of the truck and I'm tired of hearing her say "oh my God." Maybe a guardrail would shut her up.