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Gibbs Mulls Truck Limits To Ease I-70 Traffic

EAGLE, Colo. (AP) - Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs says he wants to see whether keeping trucks off Interstate 70 during peak travel times could ease mountain traffic during busy periods, like when throngs of skiers head home from resorts on winter Sunday evenings.

Colorado Motor Carriers Association President Greg Fulton tells the Vail Daily that truckers already try to avoid peak travel times, but they don't always have much control over their schedules.

Federal laws limit how long they can drive and when they must rest, and he says there isn't enough truck parking along the interstate to allow all trucks to idle during peak periods.

Colorado highway officials have explored temporarily converting a westbound lane of I-70 into an eastbound lane when traffic surges, but that could cost at least $24 million.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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