Is I-70 Outside Of Grand Junction Now A Speed Trap?

CSP issuing tickets along a recent speed limit reduced stretch of I-70.

Last week the speed limit on I-70 between Horizon Drive to 22 Road was dropped from 75 to 70 miles per hour. Since the change, the Colorado State Patrol has issued four verbal warnings, two speeding tickets, and one written warning. Are drivers not paying attention to the new 70MPH signs. Radar signs showing your speed have been installed along the stretch as well but drivers are still getting pulled over.

So what's going on here? Ask any law enforcement officer and they'll tell you there's no such thing as a "ticket quota." However, many people believe that "speed traps" are set up to generate revenue for the city or county and not necessarily for safety concerns. There are documented cases of exactly that. One infamous one was years ago back in my home state of Missouri. Local Mack's Creek, Missouri city officials were lining their pockets with cash from seeping tickets issued on US highway 54 that rolled downhill, both ways I might add, through the little town.

I'm not suggesting that's what's going on here, it just makes you wonder. Speed limits are for our safety and going too fast in one of the major causes of automobile accidents. You do wonder why after all these years the speed limit was reduced along this stretch of I-70.

This speed limit change was a collective project between the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Horizon Drive Business Improvement District and, of course, the City of Grand Junction.

Credit: KKCO11News